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THE HELPER 

A help for those who wish 

To Save and Make Money 

and to Avoid Sickness 



A GUIDE TO ECONOMY 

In Dress, Mending, Cleaning, 
Fuel, Food, Medicine, Etc. 



Published by R. McMEANS, Chicago, III. 



The HELPER 

A help for those who wish 

To Save and Make Money 

and to Avoid Sickness 



A Guide to Economy 






In Dress, Mending, Cleaning, 
Fuel, Food, Medicine, Etc. 



Published by R. McMEANS, Chicago, 111. 



L 



THE. LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

MAR 28 1903 

Copyright tntry 

CLASS Ct XXc. No 

COPY B. 



< 






If this book is merely glanced at or read carelessly, it will be of little 
value to you; but if it is read over and over again, and used as a book 
of reference, it will indeed be a "helper" in many ways. 



Copyrighted, March, 1903, by R. McMeans. 



A GUIDE TO ECONOMY. 



EXCELLENT ADVICE.— P. T. Barnuru, in "The Art of Money Get- 
ting," says: Wear the old clothes a little longer if necessary; dispense 
with the new pair of gloves; mend the old dress; live on plainer food 
if need be; so that, under all circumstances, unless some unforeseen 
accident occurs, there will be a margin in favor of the income. A penny 
here, and a dollar there, placed at interest, goes on accumulating, and 
in this way the desii'ed result is attained. It requires some training, 
perhaps, to accomplish this economy, but when once used to it, you 
will find there is more satisfaction in rational saving than in irrational 
spending. Here is a recipe which I recommend; I have found it to work 
an excellent cure for extravagance, and especially for mistaken econ- 
omy: When you find that you have no surplus at the end of the year, 
and yet have a good income, I advise you to take a few sheets of paper 
and form them into a book and mark down every item of expenditure. 
Post it every day or week in two columns, one headed "necessities," or 
oven "comforts," and the other headed "luxuries," and you will find 
that the latter column will be double, treble, and frequently ten times 
greater than the former. The real comforts of life cost but a small 
portion of what most of us can earn. Dr. Franklin says, 'it is the 
eyes of others and not our own eyes which ruin us. If all the world 
were blind except myself I should not care for fine clothes or furniture.' 
The old suit of clothes, and the old bonnet and dress, will answer for 
another season; the Croton or spring water will taste better than cham- 
pagne; a cold bath and a brisk walk will prove more exhilarating than 
a ride in the finest coach; a social chat, an evening's reading in the 
family circle, or an hour's play of 'hunt the slipper' and 'blind man'* 
buff,' will be far more pleasant than a fifty or five hundred dollar party, 
when the reflection on the difference in cost is indulged in by those who 
begin to know the pleasures of saving." 

A MONEY-MAKING SCHEME.— The advertiser's "plan and full par- 
ticulars" as given below may not be what the purchasers expected, 
yet the information, if put to a practical test, is worth many times the 
price asked. 

One great cause of the poverty of the present day is the failure of many 



4 THE HELPER 

people to appreciate small things. They say if they cannot save large 
sums they will not save anything. They do not realize that a daily addi- 
tion, be it ever so small, will eventually make a large sum. If the men 
and women of to-day will only begin, and begin now, to save a little 
from their earnings and invest it in some savings bank, and weekly or 
monthly add to their mite, they will wear a happy smile of content and 
independence in a few years. Not only the pile will increase, but the 
ability and desire to increase it will soon grow. Let the clerk and the 
tradesman, the laborer and the artisan, make a beginning. Let parents 
teach their children to save. Begin at the fountain head to control the 
extravagant desires. Do not be ambitious for gigantic fortunes, but 
seek that which is the duty of every one to obtain— independence and a 
comfortable home. Wealth is within the reach of all, but it can be had 
only by one process— saving. For the purpose of further illustrating 
this important subject, the following table of daily savings is published. 
These amounts saved and deposited -will, at. the usual rate of interest, 
compounded, produce these results: 

In 1 year. 10 years. 50 years. 

2% cents a dav $10 $130 $2,900 

5% cents a day 20 260 5,800 

11 cents a day 40 520 11,600 

27 1 /. cents a day 100 1,300 29,000 

55 cents a day 200 2,600 58,000 

It is the duty of every one in a position to do so to provide for sick- 
ness and old age. By adopting the above plan of saving a competency 
is soon obtained. 

CLEAN YOUR OAVN CLOCKS.— Here is the great clock-cleaning 
secret as furnished by the advertiser 

How to clean clocks at a cost of one cent each. Simply remove the 
works from the case, take off the verge that pendulum works in, and oil 
same with good sperm oil. Wind up the works and place in a tin pan 
or earthen vessel, and cover with common gasoline. Let the works run 
down two or three times in the gasoline, which is sufficient to remove 
all dirt. Then remove the works from vessel and let gasoline evaporate 
from same, after which oil with clock oil and put back in the case. 
Weight clocks may be treated in the same manner by winding up and 
pulling the cord. Far better results will be obtained in this manner than 
by taking the works apart. Save the gasoline, as it is good for cleaning 
a dozen other clocks. Keep it away from the fire, as it is dangerous. 

HOW TO SAVE MONEY IN BUYING.— As plainly as figures can 
prove anything, it can be demonstrated that, when flour is $5 a barrel, 
she who buys it by the twenty-five pound bag pays at the rate of $6, 
and the purchaser by the single pound, or seven pounds, nearer $7 a 
barrel. Think of it! Almost half enough for another barrel! 



THE HELPER 5 

Sugar, laid in by the small quantity, was yet more extravagant; soap, 
bought by the cake, or even by the bar, was almost a crime, when one 
could save so much by taking a box, soap being one of the commodities 
that improves with the keeping. Flour ripens after the barrel is opened, 
growing drier and lighter. Starch and sugar will keep for an indefinite 
time; vinegar sharpens instead of losing virtue with age. And so on 
through the long list of groceries down to the matter of clothing. Shoes 
are better for being bought a couple of months before they are to be 
used: we noticed the advertisements of winter wraps, flannels, furs and 
other articles of cold weather wear, to be sold for half price in the early 
spring, that the merchants might not have the trouble of storing them. 

The weekly wages system and the habit of buying pound quantities is 
the cause of the working class living in this hand-to-mouth way. Every 
time they purchase just enough of a. certain food for one meal an allow- 
ance of 10 per cent should be allowed for waste. Avoid too constant 
a. use of potatoes, using occasionally instead rice, hominy or macaroni. 
The English custom of a butterless dinner will prove an economy if meat 
gravies form a part of the meal. Breakfast foods are much less expen- 
sive if bought in bulk rather than in box. 

WHAT A LITTLE DRINK MONEY WILL BUY.— A moderate 
drinker sat down one night and wrote a letter to his grocer. The 
grocer, after doing some figuring, said the man was right and could 
get everything enumerated in the letter for what was worse than 
thrown away for whisky. Here is the letter: "Dear Sir: — Having been 
accustomed to spending 20 cents a day for whisky, I find by saving it 
I can now order from you during one year, 3 barrels of flour, 100 pounds 
of granulated sugar. 25 pounds corn starch, 125 pounds macaroni, 60 
pounds white beans. pounds pepper, 1 dozen scrub brushes, 50 pounds 
sal-soda, 20 pounds roasted coffee, 25 cans tomatoes. 24 cans mackerel, 
50 pounds best raisins, 1 dozen packages herbs, 40 pounds codfish, 110 
pounds buckwheat flour. 100 pounds oatmeal, 20 pounds rice, 1 barrel 
crackers, 100 pounds hominy, 18 pounds mince-meat, 1 dozen brooms. 12 
bottles machine oil, 20 pounds Oolong tea, 24 cans green peas, 20 
pounds dried apples, 25 pounds prunes, 40 pounds laundry starch. 28 
pounds table salt, 21 pounds lard, 12 bottles maple syrup, 100 bars soap. 
•_' gallons chow-chow, 1 ream note paper, 500 envelopes, 2 newspapers 
for a year. I had no idea my drinking had been costing me so much, 
and believe now I can live better and buy more for my family." 

HOW A FAMILY SAVED $100 ON A SALARY OF $700.- Economy 
is quite as large a factor as industry in the gaining of a fortune. With 
people living on small incomes, it is often the one element that de- 
termines whether they "make both ends meet," or run in debt and ulti- 
mately fail. The following example shows how one family, whose in- 
come was only $700 a year, actually saved $100. Mr. , of , 



THE HELPER 

found himself getting behind, in money matters, and determined to prac 
tice rigid economy. He found a great many leakages in the household. 
Perhaps some one who reads this will find the same or similar leaks, 
and learn why he is not prospering. Scraps of meat thrown away, mak- 
ing loss of dinners worth, $12.50; puddings thrown away, $0; waste of 
coal in not sifting, $5; one-half barrel of apples from not sorting, $1.50; 
wash tub fell to pieces because left dry, $1; one-fourth loaf of bread 
every day thrown away (90 loaves at 10 cents per loaf), $9, ten dozen 
preserves, one-fourth lost, at twenty-five cents per can, $7.50; twenty bar- 
rels of ashes, five cents per barrel, $1; waste of bones which could be 
used for soup, $1.50; waste of heat at the damper, one-tenth in a ton 
of coal, ten tons per year, $5; waste of gas in not turning down lights 
when not needed, $12; canned salmon, one-fourth spoiled because can 
was left open, twenty-five cans, $1; cheese (one-half used, the rest thrown 
away because hard), twenty-five pounds, $2; potatoes, for want of sprout- 
ing, one barrel, $1; clothing, for lack of attention, $15; milk, 375 quarts 
at eight cents per quart, one-fifth allowed to spoil, $6; umbrellas which 
could be mended, $1; shoes thrown away when they could be used by 
having heels fixed, $3; kitchen slops, $1; waste of vegetables, $5; wear of 
carpet for lack of rugs in places most used, $3. Total waste, $100. 

WASTE IN THE KITCHEN.— Waste in the kitchen is often very great 
from apparently trivial sources. Housekeepers should read and ponder: 

In cooking meats, the water is thrown out without removing the 
grease, or the grease from the dripping-pan is thrown away. 

Pieces of bread in the bread-box, and cake in the cake-box. are left 
to dry and mold. 

Scraps of meat are thrown away. 

Cold potatoes are left to sour and spoil. 

Preserves are opened, forgotten, and left to mold and ferment. 

Dried fruits are not looked after, and become wormy. 

Vinegar and sauce are left standing in tin. 

Apples are left to decay for want of "sorting over." 

Corks are left out of the molasses and vinegar jugs. 

The tea-canister is left open. 

Victuals are left exposed to be eaten by mice. 

Bones of meat and the carcass of turkey are thrown away, when they 
could be used in making good soups. 

Vegetables and puddings left from the dinner are thrown away. 

Sugar, tea, coffee, and rice are carelessly spilled in the handling. 

Soap is left to dissolve and waste in the water. 

Dish-towels are used for dish-cloths. 

Towels are used for holders. 

Brooms and mops are not hung up. 

Cn.-il is wasted bv not sifting the ashes. 



THE HELPER 7 

More coal is burned than necessary, by not arranging dampers when 
not using the fire. 

Lights are left burning when not used. 

Tin dishes are not properly cleansed and dried. 

Knives and forks get rusty, for want of care. 

Pails and wash-tubs fall to pieces, because left dry. 

Potatoes in the cellar grow, and thus become unfit for eating. 

Ashes are thrown out and wasted, when they could be utilized in 
different ways. 

Carpets are swept with stub brooms which wear out the carpet tex- 
ture. 

Sheets are scorched and injured by being used in ironing. 

Good forks are used and ruined in toasting bread. 

The flour is sifted in a wasteful manner, or the bread-pan left with 
dough sticking to it. 

Cold puddings are considered good for nothing, when often they can 
be steamed for the next day, or, in case of rice, made over in other 
forms. 

Vegetables are thrown away that would warm for breakfast nicely. 

Cream is left to mould and spoil. 

Mustard is left to spoil in the cruse, or rust, etc. 

Vinegar is allowed to stand until the tin vessel becomes corroded 
and spoiled. 

Pickles become spoiled by the leaking out or evaporation of the vin- 
egar. 

Pork spoils for want of salt, and beef because the brine wants scald- 
ing. 

Cheese molds, and is eaten by mice or vermin. 

Tea and coffee-pots are injured on the stove. 

Potatoes are "peeled" before boiling, thus losing a large fraction of 
the substance. It is much more economical to boil before the rind is 
removed; then only the thin rind is lost. 

Wooden-ware is uuscalded, and left to warp and crack. 

Put the pieces of bread into a jar until you have a quantity of 
them, and use them as they are needed. They are nice for milk toast, 
chicken dressing, hash and croquettes. When they become very dry 
roll them into a powder with a rolling pin and use them just as you 
would cracker crumbs. 

Save the fryings and meat drippings. Water in which meat has been 
boiled should be allowed to stand until it is cold, when the grease will 
collect on the top, and it can be taken off. To clarify it put it over the 
fire and heat until the water has evaporated. There are many ways in 
which it can be used, and it will be as good as lard or butter. 

Oil is spilled while the lamps are being filled; the gasoline can is left 
open and its contents evaporate. The water in which the clothes are 



8 THE HELPER 

washed is softened with lye or sal soda, which rots the goods and ruins 
the colors. Borax would cleanse the garments beautifully without injury 
to fabric or color. If the pudding is put in a disli that is not well 
greased its contents stick, thereby wasting part of it. Coffee should be 
drained off the grounds after each meal and the coffee pot rinsed out 
before the coffee is put. back: otherwise it will taste old and bitter and be 
unfit for use. 

THE VALUE OF FOOD.— A quart bowl of porridge, made of equal 
parts of Indian meal and rolled Graham crackers, is more health-gener- 
ating, and more strength-giving, than two pounds of porterhouse beef- 
steak. In like manner, you will find it chemically true that five long, 
deep, well appropriated inspirations of pure air, are more invigorating 
than a cup of either wiue, brandy, or coffee. 

The chief food of the Roman gladiator, was barley-cakes and oil; and 
this diet is eminently fitted to give muscular strength and endurance. 
The Roman soldier had little or no meat. His daily rations were one 
pound of barley, three ounces of oil. and a pint of thin wine. 

Peas and beans are the most nutritious of vegetables, containing as 
as much carbon as wheat, and double the amount of muscle-formiug 
food. 

In certain seasons of the year eggs are cheaper than meat and will 
give in proportion the same amount of nourishment. A bushel of pota- 
toes at one dollar gives little nourishment compared to fifty cents* 
worth of rice. Gluten macaroni gives meat value and at one fifth the 
cost. Old peas, beans and lentils are much more nutritious than meat 
and at about one-fourth the cost. 

A pound of oatmeal contains twice as much of the same kind of 
nutrition as a pound of lean steak. Yet the one costs six cents, while 
the other costs two or three times as much. 

Even in the matter of compactness, says Dr. Hutchinson, artificial 
foods, as given to the patient, do not compare favorably with many 
natural foods. For example, if it is a question of giving sugar, a pound 
of honey at 9 pence is a better source of sugar than a pound of malt 
extract at 3 shillings. Again, take cod liver oil emulsions as a means 
of administering fat. "In cream you get a more valuable substance, be- 
cause ordinary cream contains more than 50 per cent of fat. and but- 
ter fat is as easily digested and absorbed as the fat of cod-liver oil. 
besides being much more palatable and considerably cheaper." 

The article in common use as food which has the greatest food value 
in proportion to cost is cornmeal; the article having greatest cost in pro- 
portion to its food value is the oyster. 

Well-cooked oatmeal eaten with a raw apple is claimed to be an 
ideal diet for humanity, and a man can keep strong and healthy on this 
at the smallest possible outlay. 



THE HELPER 9 

How many realize the value of apples as a food? Eaten freely by 
expectant mothers they ensure regular action of the bowels, and baby 
will be all the stronger and healthier. 

SUGAR, TO SAVE.— Chemists say it takes more than twice as much 
sugar to sweeten preserves, sauces and the like if put in when they be- 
gin to cook, as it does to add it after the process is accomplished. 

Very sour fruits require an unlimited amount of sugar, considerable 
of which may be saved by stirring in a little soda before sweetening. 

A NEW ART, OR THE LIGHTNING INTEREST RULES.— Reduce 
the whole time to months and set it down in figures; divide the number 
of days by three, and set the quotient down to the right of the months, 
and multiply that by the quotient of the money divided by two; the 
answer will the the interest at six per cent. To change to any other 
rate, multiply the interest by it and divide by six. $160— one year, seven 
months, twenty-one days, at six per cent. $1(30— 2— $80x197— $15.76 at 6. 
Parties in New York are teaching this rule at $5 a scholar. 

A HELPFUL HINT.— So sure is it that the love and culture of 
flowers lead to prosperity that iu proportion as the love for a few pot- 
ted plants and flowers at home increases so the waste of money on 
meretricious ornament is checked or stopped. The education absorbed by 
the eye is of great importance, and flowers and plants instruct as no 
tt'xt-books ever can. 

HOW TO SAVE YOUR COAL.— The following has been sold ex- 
tensively for various sums from 25 cents up; and is recommended as a 
great coal saver: To 2 quarts chloride of sodium (common rock salt) add 
4 ounces nitrate of potash (salt petre). Dissolve in two gallons of water, 
sprinkle over the coal and when dry is ready to use. Above quantity 
is enough for a ton. 

Another plan for saving fuel is to mix thoroughly 100 pounds of 
common rock salt with 30 pounds of ordinary sand. Put a handful on 
the fire, and when the fire gets low, put on another handful. This prepa- 
ration has been put up in 5 pound packages and retailed at 25 cents. 

SOFT COAL AND COKE.— A stove dealer of long experience informs 
Good Housekeeping that a cheap fuel of rare excellence is a mixture of 
bituminous coal and coke, the latter counteracting the tendency of 
the coal to lump in the firebox, while the coal tempers the great heat 
from the coke, which tends to burn out the stove. 

Never place a range or cooking stove opposite a door or window if 
it can be avoided, as any draft will prevent the oven from baking well. 

A piece of zinc placed on coals of hot fire will clean out the stove- 
pipe, the vapor produced carries off the soot by chemical decomposition. 

Try turning a pan over your flat-irons while they are on the stove. 



10 THE HELPER 

It is an excellent way To save fuel, as you can keep them hot with one- 
half the fire. 

Save potato parings, for after being dried iu the oven they are ex- 
cellent for fire lighting. Thus wood is saved and something is utilized 
which would otherwise go into the dustbin and add to its unsavory odors. 

As to the principles of cooking, remember that water cannot be made 
more than boiling hot— no matter how much you hasten the tire you 
cannot hasten the cooking, of meat, potatoes, etc.. one moment; a brisk 
boil is sufficient. When meat is to be boiled for eating, put it into boil- 
ing water at the beginning, by which its juices are preserved. But if you 
wish to extract these juices for soup or broth, cut the meat in small 
pieces, into cold water, and let it simmer slowly. 

The same principle holds good in baking, also. Make the oven the 
right heat, and give it time to bake through, is the true plan; if you 
attempt to hurry it. you only burn, instead of cooking it done. 

If you attempt the boiling to hurry, 

The wood only is wasted; 
But. in attempting the baking to hurry, 

The food, as well, isn't tit to be tasted. 

BOOTS AND SHOES, HOW TO MAKE THEM LAST LONGER.— It 

is said '2 parts of tallow and 1 of resin, melted together and applied to 
the soles of new boots or shoes, as much as the leather will absorb, will 
double their wear. 

Every family should procure a can of tar (not coal tar) or a bottle of 
linseed oil. Place shoes b< ittoms up in hot sun or warm place, paint or 
coat soles over with either tar or oil; when absorbed or dried in, repeat 
five + o eight times. It is better if they may be allowed to harden for 
a time. Soles will endure many times the wear and be impervious to 
moisture. Twenty-live cents' worth of material will save a family many 
thousand per cent on the investment, while the benefit to health may 
extend to the saving of life. Such application can be made to shoos 
at any time, but if applied while new it is surprising the amount of wear 
before same becomes perceptible. 

Boots and shoes should be made so large as to admit of wearing cork 
soles. Cork is so bad a conductor of heat, that with it in the boots, 
the feet are always warm on the coldest stone floor. 

The following sole saver is now being sold extensively: Guttapercha 
cut up small. 4 ounces. Melt in a saucepan at a gentle heat and add 
Copal Varnish, 1 quart. (Get the cheap, no need to use the best.) Have 
the varnish warmed before adding it and mix thoroughly with the melted 
guttapercha. Take off the fire, stir constantly, and add Oil of Mirbane, 
¥2 ounce. Mix well and the Saver is made. Directions are to apply three 
■*oats to the soles and heels of new shoes, allowing one coat to dry be- 



THE HELPER 11 

fore putting on another. A 2-ounce bottle sells for 20 or 25 cents. Two 
ounces should do 3 pair of shoes. 

TO REMEDY TIGHT SHOES.— In a hurry, or otherwise, a shoe may 
be gotten that is a little narrow, and while it must be worn, yet it is 
uncomfortably tight. In such cases, take a folded cloth, and wet it 
in hot water, and lay it over that part of the shoe that pinches; many 
times it will afford relief at once. In order to stretch that part of the 
shoe, and cause it to tit to the shape of the foot, change the wet cloth 
several times, so as to keep up the heat and moisture, while the foot 
presses it. Another way to remedy tight shoes is to wet some oats or 
corn, and immediately put as much as possible into the shoe, and leave 
for twenty-four hours. The swelling of the grain will widen the shoe. 

HOW TO MEND OLD BOOTS AND SHOES— No matter how full of 
holes the soles may be, if the upper leathers are sound and the stitch- 
ing firm, they can be covered with gutta-percha, and with a little ex- 
pense they will be "Amaist as gude as new." The gutta-percha can be 
bought in thin sheets, and a pattern taken of the sole and then cut 
out by it. Warm the soles a little, and press the gutta-percha firmly over 
them. Let them stand awhile, and they will do you good service. On the 
other hand, if the tops of your shoes or sliipers are shabby, and the 
soles perfectly good, they can be covered tightly with woolen cloth or 
velvet, stitched on as closely as possible to the regular seam. A pair 
of boots can be covered with black lasting so neatly, that one would 
easily mistake them for new boots. A pair of slippers that are worn 
out can be made to do duty for sickness, if covered with knitting or 
crochet work, and be soft and warm to the feet. 

TO SAVE YOUR BOOTS.— A new wrinkle may be learned from an 
English solider who was noted for keeping his boots in better condi- 
tion and making them last longer than any of his brother officers. When 
asked what he did to them to prevent the leather from cracking and 
keeping it soft and smooth his reply was: "Mutton bone." When an 
explanation was demanded, he said: "It is nothing. I assure you. My 
man asks the cook for a knuckle bone, which he cleans and then bakes. 
After rubbing the leather with cream he then froths them as hard as 
he can with the bone. Usually my boots last me three years." 

METAL POLISH.— Here is the formula for the best polish ever in- 
vented for gold, silver, brass, nickel or copper. A polish needs no rub- 
bing, but simply apply and when dry wipe off. It will make tarnished 
metal look like new and will not injure it in the least. Its harmlessness 
may be proven by rubbing on the back of the hand. Wood alcohol three 
parts, aqua ammonia one part, prepared chalk one-half part. Shake often 
when using, to keep chalk stirred up. 

FURNITURE POLISH.— The English recipe for polishing furniture is 



L2 THE HELPER 

as follows: Shave five cents' worth of yellow beeswax into enough tur- 
pentine to make the consistency of paste. When it is dissolved, apply 
with a soft woolen cloth to the surface to be polished, then rub briskly 
with a flannel or soft cloth until thoroughly dry. It is really wonder- 
ful in results, making a surface as highly polished as a professional pol- 
isher could make it. After one trial the most skeptical will be convinced 
of the value of this recipe. 

STOVE POLISH. THE BEST.— Mrs. A. P. Burton, of Texas, writes 
as follows to Happy Hours: "I send a recipe for making the best stove- 
polish I ever used. It cost me one dollar, but I am glad to pass it 
along, feeling sure it will be of benefit to other housekeepers. Shave 
fine one-half bar of good soap, add one and one-half pints of rain- 
water, put over the fire and heat until dissolved, then add ten cents- 
worth of plumbago. Stir until this is dissolved, and just before taking 
from the fire add one tablespoonful of turpentine. The mixture should 
resemble soft soap, and when cold will be a paste polish. When you 
wish to black your stove put on an old glove, take your brush and pro- 
ceed as usual— taking care that the stove is not too warm. I have some 
of this polish that was made five years ago; it is dry and hard, but I have 
only to moisten it with a little water and it is as good as ever. I used 
to polish stoves as a business, and this is the polish I used. It makes 
no dirt if rightly mixed and handled. Any little girl or boy could 
make money if they would go at the work in the right way and do it 
neatly." 

COPPER POLISH.— This polish for copper and the one following for 
brass, is used in a large establishment in Chicago, and has been sold 
by the man wiio does the polishing for .$5. This is the Copper Polish: 
Equal parts of powdered pumice stone and oxalic acid (powdered). The 
brass polish is made as follows: Stearine. 1 lb.; tripoli, 2 lbs.; benzine, 
1 gallon. 

STOVE POLISH.— A very simple and excellent stove polish is made 
by simply using finely pulverized plumbago (black lead). Use a damp 
woolen rag, dip in the powder, and apply to the stove. Rub with a 
dry cloth, and a most beautiful polish will appear. This is very cheap 
and effective. Mix stove polish with strong soap suds, add a little molas- 
ses, and see how much better it polishes than if clear water is used. 

When rubbing up your stoves do not forget that the isinglass win- 
dows may be most quickly and thoroughly brightened by vinegar and 
water. Rub them quickly with a soft rag dipped into the water and 
vinegar, being careful to go well into the corners. This will keep the 
windows clean for a long time. 

A WINNING PLAN.— In the fall of the year just before the first 
advance in the price of eggs, buy as many as you can with the capital 



THE HELPER 13 

you wish to invest and pack in barrels or boxes of oats, packing about 
three inches of oats to each layer of eggs, being careful that the eggs 
do not touch each other. Turn the barrels or boxes in which you pack 
the eggs, every few days to prevent the yolks from settling and sticking 
to the sides of the shells, and they will keep much longer. When prices 
advance, as they always do during December and January, sell your 
eggs and pocket the profits. 

ONE HUNDRED POUNDS OF SOAP FOR $1.— Potash, 6 lbs.: lard, 
4 lbs.; powdered resin, 4 oz. Mix all together and set aside for five days, 
then put the whole into a cask containing 10 gallons warm water, stir 
twice a day for ten days, and you will have 100 pounds of excellent soap. 

TO DOUBLE THE STRENGTH OF TEA.— Steam the tea leaves be- 
fore steeping. By this method it is claimed fourteen pints of good qual- 
ity may be brewed from one ounce of tea. Another method is to grind 
the leaves like coffee before steeping. 

The finest tea I ever tasted in any part of the world was made by 
the deck steward on the good ship Merion. He was loath to reveal the 
secret of it, but after a good deal of teasing and passing over a few shil- 
lings, he confessed that the quality of the beverage was due to the addi- 
tion of a "nip of salt" to the fine grade of tea used. I have since acted 
on this hint, and have been surprised at the improvement in quality.— 
S. L. B., in Good Housekeeping. 

A well-known authority says: "The people of this country honestly 
believe they are getting Java and Mocha berries, and they are paying- 
forty cents a pound for Brazilian berries, when the highest price of those 
berries at wholesale to-day is twelve cents a pound. I think the Brazil- 
ian coffee is practically "just as good as the Java. To be within the cer- 
tain limits of truth, I would say that not over three per cent of the cof- 
fee imported into the United States comes from Java and Arabia, and 
this statement is thoroughly established by the official figures of the 
treasury department." 

MEAT, TO SAVE MONEY IN BUYING.— One woman says: "I 
never have bought a pound of steak; it is expensive. I buy the rump of 
beef, slice off steaks, pound thoroughly and fry or broil them. A dif- 
ference of six to eight cents a pound is worth saving, and properly pre- 
pared the steak is quite as good. In buying meats the shoulder of a 
lamb is as good as any meat on sale, and yet costs about half what 
fancy cuts are sold for." 

MEAT. TO IMPROVE.— A Avell-known cook says: "I find I can make 
a beefsteak of the inferior quality, such as rump or round, as tender 
as the most expensive cuts, if treated to an oil bath twenty-four hours 
long. A tablespoonful of the finest olive oil is sufficient. Pour it over 
the steak, then rub it with the fingers into every part thoroughly. Put 



14 THE HELPER 

it in a cold place, the coolest corner of the refrigerator in summer or 
a well chilled pantry in winter. Sometimes in a large hotel the steaks 
are cut a week before they are wanted, well oiled and put in cold storage.'" 

A tablespoonful of vinegar put in the water in which meat Is boiling 
will make the meat tender. 

When anything is accidentally made too salt it can be counteracted 
by adding a tablespoonful of vinegar and a tablespoonful of sugar. 

If mutton chops are rubbed over with lemon juice before broiling their 
flavor will be much- improved. 

In making stew, add two teaspoonfuls of vinegar to each pound of 
meat. This does not give a sour taste, but improves the flavor and adds 
to the tenderness of the meat. 

MEAT. TO KEEP FRESH.— An intelligent sailor says: "Beefsteak 
may be kept fresh three months at sea, by packing in corn meal, say 
one inch between the slices of steak. The meal also will keep sweet. In 
the above manner, steak may lie kept on land, in midsummer, for three 
weeks." 

THE CHEAPEST FISH in the market is halibut, even when it is almost 
twice the price of cod or haddock. In cod one has to pay for bone, head, 
tail and skin, which are all waste. Almost every morsel of halibut is 
eatable. 

ICE. TO SAVE.— A writer in Good Housekeeping says: "I made a 
fortunate discovery at the beginning of the summer, that has lessened 
the amount of my ice bill. I tried first putting a newspaper over the 
ice in the refrigerator: but as I like to use the small piece, left in the 
box when the new ice comes, for my water cooler, I found this would 
not do, as the ice tasted of the paper. Then I tried wrapping the ire 
in flannel. This was good, but to keep a fresh flannel ready and all 
clean and sweet made extra labor. Finally I spread a double thickness 
of old carpet over the outside top of the refrigerator. This was a per- 
fect success. My ice account from April 1 to October 1 was two dol- 
lars less than the year previous, and we certainly had as warm a sum- 
mer. I made more ices and frozen desserts this summer, too." 

Take a new flower pot. wrap in a wet cloth, put over butter, and the 
butter will keep as upon ice. 

EGGS, TO SAVE.— When eggs are high it seems almost an extrava*- 
game to make cake, but if you will follow my rule, two eggs will be 
found to go as far as three would in the ordinary way. First, mix all 
the dry ingredients together, then add the butter beaten to a cream, 
the yolks well beaten, and the milk. Lastly add the stiffly beaten whites. 
Boiled carrots, when properly treated, form an excellent substitute 
for eggs in pudding. They must be boiled, mashed and pressed through 



THE HELPER 15 

a coarse cloth or hair sieve strainer. The pulp is then introduced among 
the other ingredients of the pudding, to the total omission of eggs. A 
pudding made in this way is much lighter than where eggs are used, 
and is much more palatable. 

STALE BREAD, TO SAVE.— A dry loaf, milk-soaked, can be rebaked, 
and is as good as new. Bread on which fast-boiling milk is poured makes 
a good supper for dyspeptics. A porous bread-pan, set in an inch of 
water, keeps the bread fresh a long time. 

MOTHS, TO GET RID OF.— Sprinkle tansy leaves freely about your 
woolens and furs, and the moths will never get into them. Salt is now 
pronounced to be, beyond all other things, the best exterminator of 
moths. Women in hospitals, large storage rooms, have tried all rem- 
edies only to come back to common salt. For carpets, just previous to 
their storage, there is nothing better to keep out moths than to sweep 
them with salt— just the ordinary, common, dry salt. Particles of salt re- 
main in the carpet, and these keep out the moths. 

Cedar chests are best to keep flannels, for cloth moths are never found 
in them. Red cedar chips are good to keep in drawers, wardrobes, closets, 
trunks, etc., to keep out moths. 

SUBSTITUTE FOR MOTH BALLS.— Try putting tansy leaves in the 
Winter blankets when packing them away. In former generations moth 
balls were not known, but tansy leaves were freely sprinkled among 
the furs, blankets and woolen clothing put out of harm's way during 
the Summer months, and such things always came out fresh and sweet 
in the Autumn. 

Bits of raw cotton or wadding saturated with the oil of pennyroyal, 
and placed in corners, on closet shelves and in boxes or drawers, will 
drive away several kinds of objectionable insects, cockroaches, ants, 
etc. Placed in a saucer in the windows it will help drive away flies. 

SOAP, HOW TO SAVE— Soap, if good (and you should use no other), 
is worth saving to the least bit. A soap-shaker will accomplish this pur- 
pose for laundry soap. To utilize the remnants of the more costly toilet 
soaps make a small bag of fine flannel; put in the odds and ends from 
washstand and bathroom as they accumulate. It will lather freely in 
water, and the flannel has cleansing qualities of its own. 

WASHING MADE EASY.— A woman of experience says: "Fully ont> 
third of my dread of washing has been eliminated since I learned that a 
small scrubbing-brush would take the place of a washboard. It will 
clean the dirtiest places easily, more quickly and with less wear on the 
clothes than the old way. Lay the garments on a smooth board, soap 
the soiled places, scrub them with the brush and the spots disappear like 
magic." 



1C THE HELPER 

A careful housekeeper says: "I want to give my method of wash- 
ing; it is so easy, and the clothes are so beautifully white and clean 
that I am sure all will be pleased with it. If hard water is used it must 
first be cleansed. Now sort the clothes, putting all that you wish to boil 
in a tub. the dirtiest at the bottom and the liner pieces on top. Cover 
them well with soft water, cold or luke-warm. Put the boiler on the 
stove with as much water as is needed to boil the clothes, and to each 
pailful add a teaspoonful of pulverized borax, one-fourth bar of good 
laundry soap and a tablespoonful of kerosene. Wring out your clothes, 
throw them into the boiler, let them scald twenty minutes, and lift them 
out into a tub of water or put them through a washer, though I prefer a 
wash-board. They need very little rubbing. This is a splendid way to 
wash light quilts, men's overalls, etc., and is really a boon to women who 
are not strong. When you wash put a tablespoonful of turpentine in 
the boiling water, and a heaping teaspoonful of pulverized borax in 
the rinsing-water, and see how white and nice the clothes will be." 

CEMENT TO MEND CHINA.— Take a very thick solution of gum 
arabic, and stir into it plaster of Paris, until the mixture is of proper 
consistency. Apply it with a brush to the fractional edges of the china- 
ware, and stick them together. In a few days it will be impossible to 
break the article in the same place. 

GLASS, TO TOUGHEN.— Every day glassware, such as tumblers, 
goblets, etc., may be greatly toughened and breakages often prevented 
by placing them in a large boiler or pan containing cold water, set on 
the front of the stove, letting them come to a boil, and boil for several 
hours, after which they may be removed back and remain in the same 
water until it is cool. 

BEDBUGS, TO DESTROY.— Dissolve two tablespoonfuls of corro- 
sive sublimate in half a pint of wood alcohol; add a quart of gasoline 
and with a new, clean machine-oil can inject the mixture into every crack 
and crevice of furniture and walls. Do this twice a week for a month 
keeping a sharp lookout between times for any sign of the invaders. Ex 
amine the mattresses and pillows daily. This method if faithfully car- 
ried out will extirpate the wretched plagues. It is warranted. 

In getting rid of bedbugs, moths and corns, the average person is 
apt to fly from one remedy to another, when the fact of the matter is, 
there is little difference. To destroy bugs and moths requires constant 
vigilance; ami as for corns it is impossible to cure them as long as 
the conditions which caused them remain. Equal parts of kerosene and 
turpentine is an excellent preventive of bugs, while some use kerosene 
alone, sometimes using a quart, to a lied. 

E3ASIER SWEEPING.— This way does away with so much sweeping, 
and the dust is allayed, and the back gets a rest, and it is a woman's 



THE HELPER 17 

friend. Fill a basin full of hot water and dissolve two tablespoonfuls of 
pearline into it; stir up well and dip your broom, which must be new. 
or right clean, and sweep a width at a time. When the water gets 
dirty or black looking,- change for fresh, and it allays the dust and 
brightens up the carpet wonderfully, and does not fade a single color. 
You will not need to sweep that carpet again for two days. You can 
brush it up a little, but this amounts to a spring cleaning with most of 
the carpets. 

ROACHES, TO GET RID OF.— If you are troubled with ants or 
roaches, croton bugs in your pantry or closets, wash the shelves and 
floor with a strong solution of borax water, then sprinkle dry, pow- 
dered borax over them and cover with clean newspapers. Tansy will 
destroy or drive away small black ants. 

TO PATCH LACE CURTAINS INVISIBLY.— Cut a piece of the 
required size out of an old one and dip it in starch. Then press it on 
the curtain with a hot iron and you will have the defective spot well 
mended until washing day for it comes round again. Uo not iron your 
curtains, for ironing breaks the threads. Instead, mangle and shake 
them out; any creases which remains will soon disappear when they 
are hung up. 

THE BEST BREAD THAT EVER WAS MADE.— This is a great 
claim, but a true one, as everybody with a healthy appetite will concede. 
One pint of whole wheat flour, one pint of graham Hour, a tablespoonful 
of sugar, a little salt, and one coffee-cup of chopped raisins. Dissolve a 
Fleischmann's compressed yeast cake in a little warm water, and add 
enough warm, rich milk to make a soft dough. Stir briskly, and set in 
warm place to rise. When light, stir again, pour into pans— note the 
"pour"— and let stand fifteen or twenty minutes until it begins to re-rise. 
Bake in moderate oven. 

BAKING POWDER, HOME-MADE.— No. 1. 8 ounces of bicarbonate of 
soda, 5c; i> ounces tartaric acid, 25c; 1 quart sifted flour, 5c; total, 35c. 
No. 2. S ounces bicarbonate of soda. 5c; <j ounces tartaric acid, 25c; (i 
ounces corn starch. 8c; total 38c. Mix and sift six times through a fine 
sieve. The powder made with corn starch is finer and whiter than that 
made with flour, and for this reason some may prefer to pay three cents 
more for ingredients. 

To keep cheese from drying up or molding wrap it in a cloth wet with 
vinegar or cider. 

The resistance of glass jars that refuse to open can be overcome by 
setting them, top downward, in an inch or two of hot water. 

Milk which has changed may be sweetened or rendered lit for use 
again by stirring in a little soda. 



18 THE HELPER 

Rice has a fine* lavor if washed in hot water rather than cold before 
cooking. 

The frosting or icing on bakers' rolls is merely XXXX sugar moistened 
with hot water. Beat well. 

Sand, used in scrubbing, lightens labor: sprinkle it over the floor, use 
a mop, and you will ha v e good results. 

To keep milk swe * in hot weather put a. teaspoonful of horse-radish 
in a pan of milk; this will keep it sweet for several hours longer than 
without. 

Before using lemons always roll them awhile with your hand on a 
table and they will yield a large quantity of juice. 

Five cents' worth of tragaeanth will make more mucilage than 25 
cents' worth of gum arable. 

If new tinware is rubbed over with fresh lard and thoroughly heated 
in the oven before it is used, it will never rust afterward, no matter how 
much it is put in water. 

Steel knives may be kept from rusting if dipped in a strong solution 
of soda. Wipe dry and roll in flannel and Keep in a dry place. 

When you are cooking string beans, peas and spinach, add a grating of 
nutmeg. It much improves the flavor. 

Although fairly well known, it is worth reminding lamp users that 
chimneys will not crack easily if put into cold water and brought grad- 
ually to the boil. 

TO CLEAN WALL PAPER.— The following is a most excellent and 
simple method of cleaning wall paper and can be used with confidence in 
every house: Take one quart of flour and stir in five cents' wox*th of 
ammonia and enough water to make a stiff dough; work and knead 
until smooth, then wipa the paper with this batch of dough, work- 
ing it so that a clean surface will be presented with every stroke. Go 
over the paper in this way and your wall paper will be clean. 

A WASH FOR CARPETS.— Mix together 30 cents' worth of ground 
soap-tree bark (which can be purchased at any drugstore). 5 cents' worth 
of ammonia, one cup of vinegar, one and a half pails of water. Boil 
this mixture one hour in a boiler, and use it on the carpet with a 
sponge. 

TO MAKE CARPETS LAST.— It should be a matter of pride in house- 
keeping to exercise ingenuity in the management of carpets in order 
to make them last well. Here is a good method. When a carpet begins 
to show wear, rip out the seams and change the strips about, putting 
the least worn strips where the most worn ones are. This makes the 
carpet last twice as long as it otherwise would. 



THE HELPER 19 

TO PREPARE BROOMS.— When the straws of a broom become thor- 
oughly dry they are brittle, and are easily broken. Besides, when the 
straw is dry it is stiff, and by much using it will wear the nap off the 
carpet; so in order to save the carpet, and make the broom do good 
work, dip the straw into a basin of boiling water each time you are 
going to use it in giving the rooms a sweeping. 

KEEPING FISH.— It often happens that persons living away from 
market, who desire to have fresh fish, must resort to some way of 
keeping it. To keep fish a short time, better than it can be kept on 
ice, even in very hot weather, and in such a manner as will often im- 
prove its flavor, put a little vinegar on the fish, inside and out. This 
will keep it perfectly well. 

CHEAP DISHCLOTHS.— Save all the twenty-five-pound flour sacks 
wash them, and rip open and hem them. These make fine dish towels, 
as they are soft and of a convenient size. Be sure to hem them. 

TO MAKE OILCLOTH LAST.— Lay sawdust evenly over the floor be- 
fore putting down oilcloth, for thus will the sound of walking be dead- 
ened and the oilcloth will last much longer than if it were laid on the 
boards. 

KEROSENE, TO IMPROVE.— If compelled to use an inferior grade 
of kerosene in lamps, the light may be improved in clearness by soak- 
ing the wick in vinegar before using; also put in the lamp-bowl with the 
oil a small lump of camphor. 

LEMONS, TO SAVE.— When one wishes to use only a few drops of 
lemon juice, the most economical way is to pierce one end with a silver 
fork and express by gentle pressure as much juice as is needed. The 
opening made closes up and the lemon will remain fresh for a number 
of days. If only half a lemon is used, place the remaining half, cut side 
down, upon a small saucer, or other fiat surface, cover with a cup, ex- 
cluding the air, and the lemon will keep moist and good indefinitely. 

HOW TO KEEP CAKE MOIST AND FRESH.— An apple kept in the 
cake-box will keep moderately rich cake moist for a great length of 
time if the apple be renewed when withered. 

TO REMOVE OLD WALL PAPER.— Put into a pail of hot water a 
quart of flour paste and having stirred it well apply it to the wall. Be- 
ing thick, this will not dry quickly, but will saturate the paper, which 
may then be easily scraped off. 

All traces of mud may be readily removed from black clothing by 
rubbing the spots with a piece of raw potato. 

EASIER DUSTING.— Put away that feather duster! What's the use 
of sweeping if you are going to throw the dust back on the floor? 



20 THE HELPER 

Get a yard of cheesecloth— common quilt lining will answer— hem it 
and then you have a duster that is of some use. With it you can wipe 
up the dirt and shake it out of doors. But don't depend on one duster; 
make two or three so that they can be put in wash and you can have 
;i clean one occasionally. 

A GOOD USE FOR BRUSHES.— Experience has taught the value of 
small brushes for washing potatoes, they remove the dirt so quickly and 
easily; keep several of them, one for cleaning lamp burners and glass- 
ware with uneven surfaces. Keep mops, long handle and short handle 
ones, to wash dishes, they reach down in the pitchers and long-mouth 
dishes, and they protect the hands also. 

PLANT FOOD.— The following formula is given by Dr. Brook, in 
The Schemer, published at Alliance, Ohio: Countless thousands of peo- 
ple throughout the country grow flowers and choice early vegetables 
that they take a pride in. and you can help them beat their neighbors 
in getting results. The plant food is cheap to make, clean and free 
from odor, very little trouble to use and the sort of thing you get re- 
peat orders for. Here it is: Cheapest brown sugar, 3 pounds; nitrate 
of ammonia, 12 pounds (in coarse powder); saltpetre, 6 pounds (in coarse 
powder). Mix all well together and put in cardboard or paper cartons 
holding three-fourths or one pound for 25 cents. Directions — Dissolve a 
heaping tea spoonful of the Plant Food in one gallon of water and use 
it twice a week after sundown to water choice flowers or vegetables. In 
buying the nitrate of ammonia and saltpetre ask for the "commercial" 
quality which is quite good enough for this purpose. 

AERATED LEMON SODA.— Without a bottling machine. Mix D/o 
drams oil of lemon with 1 lb. powdered sugar. Put in each half pint 
bottle three-fourths ounce of this lemon sugar with one-half dram of 
baking soda. Fill up with water, find a. cork to fit, and slip in quickly 
one dram of crystal tartaric acid and cork very quickly before the acid 
has time to dissolve. Tie or wire the corks down and lay the bottles 
on their sides. After standing an hour they will open as briskly as 
champagne. 

A TRADE SECRET.— A valuable suggestion was given the writer 
by a dealer in beds and bedding. "If your brass bed tarnishes," he 
said, "you can send it to a repair shop and have it newly lacquered for 
anywhere from two dollars and fifty cents to five dollars. It will look 
as well as new and last as long. But I will tell you a little trade 
secret, one used by all who have brass fittings. The gas fitter and the 
picture frame maker, as well as the furniture man, the dealer in grates 
and the candlestick maker as well, all make use of it. Nearly all brass 
work, except that on shipboard, is lacquered to prevent corrosion and 
avoid the labor of frequent polishing. The lacquer is gum shellac dis- 



THE HELPER 21 

solved in alcohol. This makes a thin varnish, which is applied with a 
small paint brush. Ten cents' worth of materials will lacquer your brass 
bedstead and an ordinary workman will do the rest." 

MAGIC TRANSFERING PROCESS.— This article has proved a gold 
mine for some of the street men of Now York who continue to hand 
it out to the gaping public for only a dime a bottle. That means about 
8 cents clear on every bottle. Formula: One bar of common soap dis- 
solved in one gallon of water, then add one pint of turpentine. Direc- 
tions: Apply to any printed picture with a small brush, then lay a clean 
white paper or cloth over picture and rub with the bowl of a spoon 
quite hard. To transfer on glass or dishes, first varnish glass ol- 
dish with a white varnish and let it dry, then wet picture same as 
before, laying it face down on the glass or dish and rub on back. This is 
a good article for agents who like to demonstrate. Take some colored 
pictures along with your supply and show your prospective customer just 
how it. is done. You hardly miss a sale at any house as it proves a great 
amusement for the children and in some cases is used for transferring 
embroidery designs to cloth. This article is very easy to make as the 
articles used in the making can be found in almost every kitchen. 

CHICAGO CREAM MEAD.— This is an excellent summer drink and 
has been the means of enriching several wide-awake people who have 
been dishing it out to thirsty travelers at five cents per glass. Mix 1 
quart of boiling water with 2*4 pounds brown sugar, 2 ounces of tar- 
taric acid and y 2 pint of molasses: when cold add V. ounce of any flavoring 
extract. Directions for Using— Put two spoonfuls of this syrup in a 
glass of ice water, add one-fourth teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda 
This makes a drink to satisfy a king. 

TO CLEAN MARBLE.— Take two parts common soda, one part pu- 
mice stone, and one part of finely powdered chalk; sift through a tine 
sieve and mix with water; then rub the mixture well over the marble, 
wash with soap and water, and all discolorations will disappear, leaving 
the monument as bright as when first set up. 

TO PRESERVE BLANKETS THAT ARE BADLY WORN.— Patch 

all holes too large to darn; then cover with cheese-cloth and tack with 
colored yarn or worsted. Buttonhole with the yarn across the ends. 

To clean the velvet collar of an overcoat, clean with household am- 
monia and hot water. Let it dry and sponge with alcohol. 

To take the gloss off a black tucked silk waist or to remove the 
shine from a black cloth coat, sponge well with household ammonia 
wiping dry, but not hard, with old linen. 

Mildewed linen can be restored by soaping while wet and applying 
lemon juice and salt to both sides. 



22 THE HELPER 

Grease can be removed from clothes by laying blotting paper upon 
and below the spots, and pressing with a hot flat-iron. 

Sofas, etc., covered with worsted, can be cleaned with wheat bran 
rubbed on with flannel. 

To wash lace, put some salts of tartar in hot water, soak the lace in 
it one hour, squeeze dry and the lace will look like new. 

To stiffen ginghams and muslins drop a piece of alum the size of a 
hickory-nut in the starch. 

Straw matting will not turn yellow if cleaned with salt and water. 

Old stocking legs will make nice sleeve protectors. 

Salt-petre will bleach clothes without injuring the fabric. Put a pound 
of saltpetre iu a gallon of water and keep it in a corked jug. Use two 
tablespoonfuls of the solution to every pound of soap. 

To renew crepe stretch it over a basin of boiling water, fold while 
damp and put under a book to dry- 
To fill up old nailholes. take fine sawdust and mix into a thick 
paste with glue, pound it into the hole and then dry: it will make the 
wood as good as new. 

A tablespoonful of washing powder or soda put into the hot water in 
which the broiler, frying-pan, and other such iron utensils are washed, 
will lessen the time it would otherwise take to cleanse them by fully 
one-half. 

At the home of a certain notable housewife the visitor marks the 
fresh, healthful odor that prevails there. "Stuffiness" in a house being 
a hard thing to conquer, she was asked how she achieved this desirable 
feature. She replied that she was in the habit of having a small quan- 
tity of turpentine added to all scrubbing water used in the house, and 
this necessarily did much to purify the atmosphere. 

If grease or oil of any kind gets on a carpet or woolen stuff, apply 
dry buckwheat plentifully and faithfully. Never put water to such a 
grease spot or liquid of any kind. 

To make brooms last long, keep them hanging up. and wash the 
bristles once in a while with soft soap and water. 

The cost of maintaining a lamp is one-eighth that of any other luini- 
nant. 

Clotheslines are made much more durable by boiling for ten minutes 
before they arc used. 

Rats can be stampeded and kept from a building by scattering red 
pepper around their play spots or places of carousal. It acts on eyes 
and noses in a way they remember and like not. 

If painted woodwork is rubbed over with a cloth dampened in coal- 
oil after being washed it will acquire a polish exactly "like new." 



THE HELPER 23 

A sponge may be cleansed by letting it lie covered with milk for 
twelve hours, and then rinsing in cold water. 

If you use a wooden pail about your household and it begins to 
shrink and leak, fill it with water and then stand it in a tub filled with 
water. This will swell the wood so it will leak no more. 

Cheese-cloth makes the softest, nicest kind of dust cloths. 

When canning fruit, if you will wring a cloth out of water and wrap 
around each jar as you fill it, vou will not break one. Do not have more 
than one thickness, and let it come under the bottom. 

If boiling water is poured over encumber pickles when you wish to 
freshen them, and they are allowed to soak in the hot water, you will 
have a harder and better pickle to pay you for your trouble. 

When bottling liquids of any description boil the corks to soften them 
and while hot press them into the bottles. When cold the bottles will be 
found to be quite tightly sealed. 

A kitchen stool is a great boon to delicate women for sitting on when 
washing up. 

Buy soap by the bar and keep it in a warm, dry place, cutting each 
bar in two, and it will last much longer. 

For cleaning jewelry, there is nothing better than ammonia and 
water. If dull or dirty, rub a little soap on a soft brush, and brush them 
In this wash. Rinse in cold water, and polish with chamois. 

That unsightly grievance, a grease spot, may be permanently removed 
from the floor by using common baking soda, spread thickly over the 
spot, and then pouring on boiling water. A chemical action takes place 
and the trouble is removed. 

Clothes look better from which the water is dripping when hung upon 
the line than those which have been tightly wrung. 

A little salt put in the reservoir of the lamp will make the light 
clearer and steadier. 

To make a microscope for one cent, drop a little Canadian balsam on 
the under side of a piece of thin glass. Whea dry it possesses great 
magnifying power. 

To make starched fabrics look like new, wash in the usual way, 
but starch in rice water— that is, water in which rice has been boiled 
for the table— (about a cupful of rice to three quarts of water). Do not 
dry, but clap and roll in a dry cloth for an hour or two, then iron. The 
most delicate colors will not fade with this treatment, and the dress 
will look and wear like new. 

STRAW HATS, TO CLEAN.— Cut a lemon in half, and rub the hat 
well over; use the second half of the lemon to finish off. When all dirt 
Is removed, place on a table in the shade to dry. 



24 THE HELPER 

TO IMPROVE HAMS.— A writer in the Ladies' World, says: "If 
I have a slice of ham To broil or fry, I soak it for an hour or two in 
molasses and water, using enough liquid to cover the ham. and making 
the water reasonably sweet. Rinse, and wipe with a dry cloth before 
putting it in the spider. Ham is usually salted more in the summer 
than in winter, and the molasses and water at this season of the year 
will be found decidedly to improve it." 

USES OP SALT.— A little salt nibbed on the enps will remove tea 
stains. Salt put into whitewash will make it stick better. Use salt 
and water to clean willow furniture, applying it with a brush and 
nibbing dry. Ginghams or cambrics rinsed in salt and water will hold 
their color and look brighter. Salt and water make an excellent remedy 
for inflamed eyes. Hemorrhages of the lungs or stomach are often 
cheeked by small doses of salt. Neuralgia of the feet and limbs can 
be cured by bathing night and morning with salt and water as hot as 
can be borne. After bathing rub the feet briskly with a coarse towel. 
A gargle of salt and water strengthens the throat, and. used hot. will 
cure a sore throat. As a tooth powder salt will keep the teeth white 
and the gums hard and rosy. Two teaspoonfuls of salt in half a pint 
of tepid water is an emetic always on hand. 

COLD PROCESS METHOD OF KEEPING FRUIT.— A correspond- 
ent of The American Woman, writes: "I will tell you all how to can 
apples without cooking or sugar. Get one-half pound sulphur, and one 
ounce each of pulverized saltpetre and pulverized licorice-root. Mix all 
together. The cost will not be more than twenty-five to forty cents 
This is the preserving powder. Peel and slice ripe apples. You will need 
several plates and cups, and a six-gallon jar. Set a cup on a plate, 
pile apples on the plate about one and one-half inches deep, and set 
the whole in the bottom of your jar. Fix another plate like the first, and 
set it on the cup in the jar, and continue until the last plate reaches 
nearly to the top of the jar. On the top of the last plate set the tin 
cover of a baking-powder can, and in this plate a round tablespoonful of 
your powder. Take a red hot coal from the fire, and lay it on the 
powder, which will begin to burn. Cover the jar closely with a board to 
keep in the gas. as that is what preserves the fruit. Let stand an hour. 
then pack the apples in glass jars, pushing them in tight, and screw on 
the covers. They will keep for years. Do not expect the powder to be 
all burned, for as soon as the jar becomes full of gas it stops burning, 
Be sure to have a nice, red coal, and the powder will do the rest if 
you cover the jar and keep the gas in. When wanted for use spread 
tlie apples on a platter for an hour before cooking, and every bit of 
the smell of snlphnr will leave them. When apples are plentiful in 
summer, just try putting them up by this method, and you can use 
them next winter when apples are scarce— as now. This recipe was 



THE HELPER 25 

sold here for ten dollars as the wonderful 'cold process method' of 
keeping fruit. All kinds of fruit may be canned in the same way, and 
a large lard-can or very close box used instead of the six-gallon jar, only 
be sure to cover closely. This is perfectly harmless, and very sour ap- 
ples or fruit require much less sugar when so canned, as the gas neu- 
tralizes the acids in sour grapes, apples, etc., so that less sugar is needed 
to sweeten them when cooked." 

STRING BEANS IN JANUARY.- Another correspondent says: "Last 
winter we reveled, fairly reveled in string beans. Canned, did you say? 
Nothing of the sort; our beans had personality and a flavor never achieved 
by any canned vegetable. They were picked when crisply tender, 
and thrown at once into strong brine, securely weighted and covered. 
When needed for use they were freshened by soaking for several hours 
and in several different waters; after which they were cooked, either 
with a piece of home-raised pork, or simply boiled in clear water, drained, 
buttered and served with a rich cream dressing. Delicious? Of course 
they were — just a bit of August bloom and sunshine, imprisoned in a 
January side-dish." 

THE BEST COSMETIC— Far better for the complexion than any 
cosmetic compound by a perfumer is the application of very hot water 
to the face with a woolen washrag. After the hot bath dash on a lib- 
eral quantity of cold water with the hands until the skin fairly glows. 
This is the cheapest and most wonderful cosmetic known. This is the 
great beauty secret which has been sold for years for .$1. 

WHITE ROSE CREAM.— To four ounces of rain water add one tea- 
spoonful tincture of benzoin and two teaspoonfuls of glycerine. Shake 
well and it is ready for use. The total cost of ingredients does not ex- 
ceed one-third of a cent per bottle; it is creamy white, of fragrant odor, 
and will sell readily at 50 cents per bottle. 

It is now claimed that rubbing the face downward while washing is 
the cause of many of the wrinkles on women's face to-day, aud the best 
remedy is to reverse the process, and always rub the face upwards. 

WARTS. TO CURE.— Rub them several times a day with castor oil 
until they soften and come away or are absorbed. 

TO WHITEN THE SKIN.— The following lotion is not only harmless, 
but it is really beneficial to the general health, aud proves a good tonic 
at all times: 

1 ounce of epsom salts. 
I pint of soft water. 
Put in a large bottle that will hold about a quart, so that it can be 
well shaken before using each time. 

Directions for Using.— Wash face and hands in warm soft water, 



26 THE HELPER 

using soap, rinse and wipe dry. Then pour one teaspoonful of it in 
hand and wash the face with it. Leave it until it begins to feel dry 
and stiff. Then rub softly until face has the appearance of being pow- 
dered. Dust off with flannel. Don't use when perspiring, as face won't 
turn white when one is too warm. Use it when you dress, same as you 
would any cosmetic. This preparation is sold by specialists under 
many fine names, such as "Dew of Eden," "Pearl Water." etc. Every 
lady should keep a bottle of it; its constant use is a substitute for pow- 
der, etc. If desired, pour in a few drops of any cologne you desire to 
scent it. 

Much better results can be had if the salts are pulverized. By adding 
20 drops of Simp. Tinct. Benzoin and 10 drops of glycerine to the 
finished preparation, it will make the finest face wash in the world. 
As a cosmetic and skin beautifier it has no superior. It bleaches th*e 
skin and cleanses it of all impurities, leaving it soft and white. It is 
a skin physic. 

A lemon squeezed into a quart of milk will give you a mixture to 
rub on your face night and morning that will give you a complexion like 
a princess.— Ex. 

SUPERFLUOUS HAIR.— The best and safest remedy for superfluous 
hair is to apply peroxide one night and the ammonia the following. For 
removing superfluous hair the above is a good, but rather lingering, 
method, but a safe one, which will not leave a scar. 

HAIR, TO CURL.— A correspondent of The Woman's Home Com- 
panion, says: "I anointed the scalp with vaseline, and naturally some 
of it got on the hair. Being in a great hurry one morning I did not 
stop to wash out the vaseline, but curled my hair with a little of the oil 
left on. To my great surprise, the curls at night were as tight as in 
the morning, and the day had been humid and warm. And so came 
about what I regard as one of the great discoveries of the age. All that 
is necessary is this: Rub on each lock of hair to be curled just a sus- 
picion of perfumed vaseline, which in turn is rubbed off with a towel; 
then have the tongs fairly hot, and hold them on the curl till they are 
nearly cold. Be sure to curl each lock in the direction which is most 
becoming, for as the hair is curled, so it will lie." 

TOOTH POWDER.— In more ways than one womankind may prac- 
tice economy in the toilet and here is a bit of fact concerning tooth 
powder. Practically all the tooth powders of commerce have the same 
base— prepared chalk. This is mixed with some saponaceous compound, 
flavored a little, put up in an attractive bottle or jar. and behold a 
tooth powder costing from ir> to 50 cents per vessel, according to the 
place you buy it and the celebrity of the name on the label. For 15 
cents enough tooth powder to last a family a year can be put together. 



THE HELPER 27 

Buy the chalk in bulk and with it some ground castile soap, which all 
druggists sell. Put them together in the proportion of one-eighth soap 
to seven-eighths chalk. Mix well and till any and all the empty tooth- 
powder jars or bottles that you may have around. If flavoring is liked 
it is easy to add a little wintergreen or peppermint. 

HAIR, HEALTH.— -"Some years ago," Mark Twain said to a friend, 
"my hair began to fall out. I knew at the time a man of about 70 
years who had a very thick mop of hair. I asked him what the secret 
was, and he told me to just plow my scalp with a hard brush. Well, 1 
tried his advice, and I have not lost a single hair in eleven years." 

A hundred strokes of the brush every night is better than all the 
"hair healths" ever foisted upon guillible womankind. 

ECONOMY IN DRESS.— A woman of limited means is well aware of 
the possibilities of a black dress. Such a dress can be worn upon almost 
any occasion. One lady always has at least one good black dress, yet 
she seldom buys any black material. If she has several pieces of cash- 
mere or serge of different colors, but about the same quality, she makes 
a strong solution of black diamond dye for wool and puts them in it. 
After boiling the required length of time, they will come forth a beau- 
tiful jet black, and no one can tell any difference in the shade of the 
pieces. Sometimes she purchases new trimming, and when it is made 
up, she has a beautiful new dress at a trifling expense. She always uses 
heavy skirt linings which make the skirt hang better; when the making 
over time arrives, these are washed, starched and ironed carefully, and 
they are as nice as new. New waist lining, stiffening for the skirt and 
skirt binding are the principal items of expense. For the latter, she has 
found that a good binding may be obtained by buying a good quality of 
velveteen cut on the bias and preparing it. 

The neatest way to mend taffeta waists where they split from con- 
stant creasing is to put courtplaster on the back of the break and press 
with a hot iron. It is nearly always a successful experiment. 

Discarded sheets serve for dust-sheets: towels by a process of evolu- 
tion become wash-cloths, and ragged napkins make desirable face cloths. 

A hat and trimmings may be worn a much longer time, if the dust 
be brushed well off after walking. 

One flannel petticoat will wear nearly as long as two, if turned be- 
hind part before, when the front begins to wear thin. 

A shabby silk shirtwaist has been known to continue its mission 
in life as a first-rate jacket lining. 

During a visit at an army post a woman picked up a new wrinkle from 
the soldiers. They use a. crust of bread often, to clean the white stripes 
of their trousers. This is an excellent idea when applied to light felt 
hats, gloves or even a wool gown. 



28 THE HELPER 

Many people who are fond of wearing delicate and pretty colors 
deny themselves because of the tendency such colors have to lose their 
brightness. I have solved that problem to my own satisfaction. I wore 
a pink wash dress all last summer and it was laundered repeatedly, and 
it is still as bright and pretty as the day I bought it. I always put a 
little pink dye in the rinse water— that is the secret. Whenever I pur- 
chase a washable shirt waist or any garment that will fade, I buy a 
package of dye of that color, and faded clothes are a thing of the past 
at our house now.— Mrs. R. A. B., in Good Housekeeping. 

When you buy a worsted dress get something that is all-wool, even if 
you have to do with less trimming; then as long as there is a piece of 
it left it will do to make over for the little ones. As your husband is 
expected to dress well, buy white shirts; these he can wear till they are 
worn out. The fancy colors will fade, and have to be thrown one side. 
Have him buy clothes that do not soil easily. When they do get soiled, 
dust them thoroughly, put two or three gallons of gasoline in a tub 
out in the yard, or somewhere away from any artificial light or fire, and 
rub them on a board the same as you would if using water instead of 
gasoline. Hang on the line all day to dry and air, then mend all worn 
places and press well. If you take pains to press the pants frequently, 
creasing them, they will have a new appearance until worn out, and 
the knees will not "bag." In this way you can keep his clothing look- 
ing well. Gasoline does not shrink the clothes, and it is almost the 
only thing that does not. If there is any gasoline left when you have 
finished your work put it in a jug and cork tightly. The dirt will settle 
to the bottom and it can be used again if poured off carefully. If you 
wish to wear your worsted skirt from one to three winters, and have it 
always look as nice as new, brush it thoroughly, put it on the ironing- 
board, place over it a damp cloth and press it exactly as you would 
men's pants. Do this every month or so. If there are any spots on 
the skirt sponge with water, soap and ammonia first, then press. 

SHRUNKEN FLANNEL, TO RESTORE.— A newspaper correspond- 
ent says: "If you will wring a piece of cheescloth out of cold water, 
lay it smoothly over the woolen garment and then iron with a very hot 
iron till the cloth is dry the shrinkage will disappear and the garment 
will look like new. My mother always presses the finest of flannels and 
woolen garments in this way and has the best results. I have known 
her to take flannels which had shrunk so badly they were useless and 
in this manner restore them to their natural size." Carefully pull and 
stretch. Another way to prevent the shrinkage of flannel, put new flannel 
Into cleaji cold water and let it remain for a week, changing the water 
often. Then wash in warm water, using a little soap. 

Whalebones when bent need not be thrown away as useless. They 
should be soaked in hot water for a time, then straightened out under a 
press until dry. when they will be quite fit to use again. 



THE HELPER 29 

When you are feeliug somewhat discouraged over the millinery propo- 
sition brush last spring's black hat, sponge with warm water diluted 
slightly with ammonia, and it will be almost as fresh as new, and your 
spirits will rise amazingly. 

A skirt that had been marred by a rent in the front breadth, and a 
stain near the bottom at the side, was saved from entire remaking by a 
line of braid run up from the botton in a pattern to cover the spots, 
and continued all round, creeping up the front breadth far enough to hide 
the rent. 

There are many mothers who cannot afford to cast a child's dress 
aside when it becomes too small, faded or otherwise unwearable, and 
perhaps a few suggestions as to remodeling them will be helpful. If the 
skirt and waist is joined in one seam, a belt placed between them length- 
ens the dress. Two dresses may often be converted into one by using 
the best parts of each one. A circular tlounce added to the bottom of a 
gored skirt will lengthen and widen it, and in this and many other ways, 
fashion favors the economical woman. 

TO REMOVE SHINE FROM CLOTHES.— Remember that the gloss 
on the elbows and shoulders of a gown can be eradicated by gentle 
friction with eniery cloth. Rub just enough to raise a little nap, and 
then, in the case of cashmere or other smooth materials, go over the place 
a few times with a warm silk handkerchief. 

SIMPLE METHOD OF CLEANING A WOOLEN DRESS.— The fol- 
lowing simple method of cleaning a dress skirt has been so thoroughly 
tested that no one need hesitate about trying it. The rule was first 
learned from a cook who accidentally had a cup of melted butter spilled 
over her dress. It was thought to be beyond reclaiming, but the cook 
herself declared that she could take every bit of the grease out— ano 
she did. Since then the rule has been applied to many less hopeless 
cases, and invariably with the most satisfactory of results. 

Take three-fourths of a pail of cold soft water and add one teacupful 
of ammonia. Thoroughly brush and shake the dress skirt, then rinse 
it up and down repeatedly in this ammonia water. After thoroughly 
"sousing" it, let it lie in the water for an hour. Once more rinse it up 
and down, then take it out, squeezing the water from it, but not wring- 
ing it. 

Put up two lines so that they shall cross each other and hang the 
skirt upon them, pinning the bottom to the crossed lines so that the 
skirt shall be well spread apart. 

While the skirt is still quite damp iron it upon the wrong side, ironing 
till dry.— Cincinnati Commercial-Tribune. 

PRIZE CLEANING PROCESS.— The English Society of Arts offered 
a prize of $100 for the best process of cleaning silk, woolens and cot- 



30 THE HELPER 

ton fabrics, one that would not change their color or injure them iu 
any way. The winning l-ecipe was as follows: Grate two good-sized 
potatoes into a pint of clear, clean, soft water. Strain through a coarse 
sieve into a gallon of water, and let the liquid settle. Pour the starchy 
fluid from the sediment and it is ready for use. Rub the articles gently 
in the liquid, linse thoroughly in clear water, dry and press. 

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR DRESSES.— A word about cleaning, which is 
an important part of the spring making over. In nine cases out of ten 
things can be cleaned just as well at home as at the cleaner's. The 
secret of the so-called "dry cleaning" is very simple. The thing that 
is to be cleaned is merely immersed in gasoline and left covered with 
the liquid for twenty-four hours. A regular wash boiler is the best 
vessel to use, as it can be covered, and by throwing a blanket over the 
tin cover remain nearly enough airtight. Gasoline will not hurt the 
material in the least. A whole velvet hat covdd be thrown into it, feath- 
ers and all, and come out none the worse for its bath, nor will it fade 
or streak the color as soap and water do. After the clothes have soaked 
a day and night it will be time to lift them out. They should not be 
rubbed, but soused up and down in the gasoline. Sometimes if they are 
really very dirty they may not be clean even then, in which case it is 
best to cover them with fresh gasoline and leave them another day. 

REMOVING BAD SPOTS.— An actress who has had much experience 
in cleaning her own dresses, says that if spots are stubborn they should 
be held on the palm of one hand and lathered well with the palm of the 
other, ivory soap being dipped in the gasoline and used for lather. 

Tailors clean suits without ripping them by placing them on ironing 
boards, with the skirt thrown over the board as for ironing. A bowl of 
gasoline is used and a hair clothes brush. The dress is brushed briskly 
downward, following the straight of the goods, with the brush dipped 
every few seconds in the gasoline. The whole thing must be done 
quickly so as to dampen but not wet the material. The boiler in which 
clothes are being cleaned should, if possible, be kept outside, as it 
is dangerous to have the quantity of gasoline necessary for cleaning 
around the kitchen. Here is a way to get rid of the smell or' gasoline 
that so often clings to home cleaned clothes in spite of much frantic 
airing and shaking and sunning. It must be heated out. When the 
fabric is thoroughly dry place it over the radiator or steam pipes, or if 
these are unavailable, cover it with a thin cloth and drive the scent out 
by going over it well with a hot iron. After all traces of the gasoline 
are dispelled from the woolen stuff then renovate it entirely, put it 
right side up on an ironing boai'd, cover it with a damp cloth and go 
over with a hot iron, being careful to lift the Avet cloth as you move 
the iron. This gives the steam a chance to come up from the wool and 
raise the nap of the cloth. This lifting of the wet cloth in time to let 



THE HELPER 31 

the steam lift the nap up is a particular point in renovating cloth. If, 
on the other hand, the fabric is ironed dry through the wet cloth the 
nap will be flattened and the surface hat and uneven. The treatment 
just described is the means tailors use for taking the "shine"' off men's 
clothes when they become glossy in places. They are not ironed dry, 
but ''pressed and steamed," and left to dry out naturally. Gasoline is a 
powerful anesthetic agent and should never be used in a close room. 

SKIRTS. HOW TO SAVE.— The girl who is traveling gave me a new 
idea the other day. It was an idea in petticoats and I grasped it thank- 
fully, says a writer in the Kansas City Journal. She had on a silk skirt 
It was an ordinary taffeta skirt, made with ruffles and a yoke. But when 
she took it off I saw that it had a deep facing of some sort of thin stuff 
around the hem and that the front breadth was likewise lined. 

The girl who is traveling showed me how she kept her silk skirts from 
cutting into ribbons. It was by means of this facing, and the facing was 
made of pongee. "Pongee." she said, "is very light. It doesn't soil 
easily, and it's not as expensive as you would think. Two yards were all 
I needed for This. I faced the bottom of the skirt, you see. where it 
rubs against my shoe tops and then I thought 1 would put it in the front 
against, my knees. The plan has worked admirably. Once I have taken out 
the facing and have had it washed. 

"The skirt has already lasted twice Ihe alloted span of a silk petti- 
coat, and I am hoping it may have nine lives." 

MEN'S HATS, TO GIVE THEM DOUBLE WEAR.— "I'll tell you 
why it is," said the best dresser in German-town, (he other day, says a 
writer in the Philadelphia Record. "It is because one man brushes his 
hat with a stiff bristle whisk and the other rubs his softly with a piece of 
woolen cloth. A piece of woolen cloth, rubbed over a hat with a cir- 
cular motion that conforms to the grain, doesn't rub off the nap at all, 
but keeps it lustrous and firm and of good color. I buy one two-and-a- 
half hat a year, and rub it each morning with a bit of flannel. I guar- 
antee that it outlasts three $5 hats that are raked and scraped with 
whisks every day." 

TO REVIVE BLACK CLOTH.— Rub it with this solution, and it will 
be restored to its original blackness: Boil together for two hours half 
a pound of bruised galls, one pound of logwood, i quarter of a pound of 
green vitriol and three quarts of water. 

MENDING, HINTS ON.— If your rubber overshoes develop a sudden 
hole, patch them with adhesive. It will also mend your umbrella, your 
cloth skirt and the crown of your felt hat, not to mention the dilapidated 
back of your pet receipt-book or the cracked side of your favorite jar- 
dinier. 



32 THE HELPER 

STOCKINGS, TO IMPROVE.— If you will wash the feet of new hose 
before they are worn you will tiud their lasting qualities enhanced. A 
saleswoman in the hosiery department of a large store said this and 
we have since followd the suggestion with profit. When the knee of a 
stocking becomes so worn that the nest step would be" the darning of a 
huge hole, cut out the weak spot, set in a stout piece from a discarded 
pair, darning back and forth around the patch on the wrong side, and 
the hole on the right. 

The sleeves of men's white shirts can be used to make over a night- 
dress where the body is still too good to throw aside. Rip off the cuff 
and a little bit of insertion for cuffband and an embroidery ruffle makes 
a good, almost new sleeve. The lower part of the body of shirt has 
been used for making drawers for children. Also these pieces are good 
for the lining of a pieced home- made quilt. The bosom, with the collar- 
band, makes a good thick bib for little children, by sewing a button on 
one side of the collarband. 

TO PREVENT FADING IN GENERAL.— Here is a good general 
method for preventing the fading of colors in wash goods. Make a 
strong solution of salt and very hot water, say one-half a cupful of salt 
to two gallons of water. While the solution is very hot, put the gar- 
ment into it, and let it stand until cold. Wring the goods, and dry them. 

A salesman at a lawn counter in one of Boston's big stores told us 
not long ago that the rinsing of these thin, delicate fabrics in water to 
which a little gum arabic is added, helps materially to preserve the sheer, 
new appearance which starch does not give. The ironing should be done 
on the wrong side, as our friend suggests. 

In putting away a white silk or muslin gown it is a good idea to put in 
the box several cakes of white wax. Wrap the gown in plenty of white 
tissue paper -and put blue paper over all. The wax will turn quite 
yellow in time, but the clear white of the gown will be preserved. 

A woman who treats her clothes with beautiful care- says that for 
hanging silk petticoats, or skirts of silk, chiffon, net or anything adorned 
with flounces, she sews three or four loops along under the facing of the 
skirt, rather than in the waist belt, by which the average woman hangs 
her clothes. She claims when flounces are hung the opposite way from 
that in which they are worn they are freshened and take on a new lease 
cit' life. If one could judge by the pristine freshness of the wearer's garb 
her theory is a useful one. 

How many of you know that blood-stains are easily removed by soak- 
ing towels, sheets, etc., in warm water in which a teaspoonful of tar- 
taric acid is dissolved? 

Wondering why cloth dresses made and pressed at home never had 
the same air as when a tailor pressed them, a tailor was asked for the 



THE HELPER 33 

secret. "There is no secret," said he. "At home one is in too great a 
hurry and has the iron too hot. Use a warm iron and press very 
slowly." 

CLEANING FLUIDS FOR LIGHT COLORS— Velvet, silk, cotton and 
wool: One quart deodorized benzine, one ounce alcohol, one-eighth ounce 
bay rum, one-eighth ounce ammonia, one-eighth ounce chloroform, one- 
eighth ounce ether, one-eighth ounce wintergreen oil, one-half dram 
borax. Shake well; apply with a soft cloth; rub dry. Do not use near 
fire or artificial light. 

A cleaning fluid that will not injure the most delicate fabrics, and 
which costs about 25 cents a quart, is made as follows: Sulphuric ether, 
1 dram; chloroform, 1 dram; alcohol, 2 drams; oil of wintergreen, 1 dram; 
naphtha, 2 pints. 

Blue cotton goods that have never been wet, if laid a little while 
in water made very strong with spirits of turpentine, never afterward 
fade by washing— a blessing to a large part of the human family. 

Rag carpet is thoroughly cleansed by laying on the grass through a 
hard rain. 

Linen shades will look almost neAV when cleaned by stretching them 
on a table and rubbing them with powdered bath brick, applied with a 
piece of flannel. 

DRY CLEANING.— If any of you anxious ones wish to know of a 
good inexpensive dry cleaner for flannel, cashmere, knit shawls, etc., tell 
them to try half and half of salt and flour. Rub it in and on to the article 
with energy. Then shake till none remains and they will be surprised as 
well as pleased. This can be used for all kinds of colored goods. 

To clean dust or grime from light cloths first brush thoroughly, then 
rub with corn-meal, using a piece of light cloth for the rubbing. By this 
simple process cream-tan broadcloth coats and skirts, so much worn now, 
have been entirely freshened and cleaned. 

To polish black straw, get a bottle of good shoe-dressing, wet the 
hat, and put on the dressing exactly as you would do on shoes. When well 
covered let it dry in the sun, and if not black enough give another coat. 

HOW ONE WOMAN SAVES ON CLOTHES.—A correspondent of 
The Housekeeper says: "In ripping an outing flannel nightdress I found 
the best parts would make a pair of small under drawers, the good 
pieces wash cloths, then came strips for carpet rags, while seams and 
wornout parts w r ent into the paper bags. It took but a few moments 
to put each kind in its place, and that was out of the way. Young 
housekeepers will find, if such things are done at the right moment 
little time is consumed. Things left to accumulate make a very discour- 
aging pile and much is wasted. The best parts of sheets, worn through 



34 THE HELPER 

the middle, I used for slips to keep The kitchen lounge pillows clean 
The center I tore into strips for bandages, as I think it a good plan to 
have such things handy. In these little things one economizes in time 
as well as money." 

TABLE LINEN, TO SAVE.— Do not allow holes to appear in table 
linen until it is all so thin that it has to be laid aside. On Saturday, be- 
fore the clothes are sorted for the washing, look over all the soiled 
table clot lis and napkins, holding them to the light. Use embroidery 
floss to correspond with the quality of the linen, and every thin place 
should be darned or run as neatly as possible. You have no idea how 
much longer linen will last when cared for in this way. 

SOME GOOD HINTS ON CLEANING.— A correspondent of the 
American Woman says: "To remove iron-rust, use a mixture of equal 
quantities of benzine and powdered borax. This will take out the worst 
spots, and there is no danger to the fabric if allowed to remain on it 
There is such danger in using the oxalic acid, so frequently recom- 
mended. If too strong, or not thoroughly removed at once, it is very 
likely to rot or weaken the fibre. Mildew is still more difficult to remove 
but most spots will yield to a mixture of powdered borax and chalk, 
together with exposure to the sun. To take out stains of fruit, tea and 
coffee from table-linen, stretch the place on which is the spot over a 
bowl or similar dish and pour through it a stream of boiling water. If 
stubborn, dissolve in the water a little borax. Hot borax-water is very 
effectual in sweetening chamber and kitchen pails, sink drains, etc. Here 
is my recipe for removing peach stains. Put some sulphur on a tin plate 
light it, and after wetting the stain hold it over the sulphur. Repeat, 
wetting it as often as it gets dry. I have tried it on white linen and 
white silk with good results." 

TO REMOVE SCORCH.— A careful housewife says: "To remove 
scorch from white fabrics, try this plan: One day while sitting in the 
cosy kitchen of my next-door neighbor we heard a hasty exclamation 
from the girl at the ironing-board. She had set a hot flat-iron on a fine 
linen table-cloth, and the stain showed through three thicknesses of 
the linen. Although badly blackened, it was still firm. Mrs. S. put a 
basin of water on the stove and shook into it as much borax as it would 
dissolve. When very hot she soaked the spots in it and laid them in 
the hot sun, repeating as often as they dried. I could see no difference 
while there, but later Avhen they washed she called me to see, and I 
could not find the burnt places." 

WHITE SILK, TO WASH.— A careful woman says: "I will tell you 
how I wash white silk. I used a white silk waist for two summers, 
washing it every week and it did not turn yellow. I use cold water 
and castile soap and wash it by hand: rinse it and dry. Do not sprinkle. 



THE HELPER 35 

When ironed it looks just like new. In washing colored or striped silk* 
I put a little salt in the water and they do not fade. It is the warm 
water and the sprinkling and ironing that turn them yellow." 

USES OF OLD GLOVES.— Old gloves should not be thrown away 
as soon as they are discarded, for they are still useful in a number of 
ways after they are no longer fit for wear in the street. Probably every- 
body understands their value as a protection for the hands in garden- 
ing, rowing or cleaning a bicycle, and most persons have a few glove 
fingers laid away in reserve for use in case the hand is injured, but 
bits of glove kid may be utilized in many fashions. They are excellent 
for applying dressing to kid shoes, for making watch cases and pen 
wipers, and for tying over the tops of bottles in traveling to keep the 
stopper secure. Suspenders may be mended with kid, spectacles, jew- 
elry and finger nails polished with it. Strips may be cut from the 
clean part of the wrist of mousquetaire gloves, these strips to be neatly 
stitched upon the edge of the collar, cuffs and belt of a tailor-made 
gown as an appropriate finish. There is material enough in the arms 
of long evening gloves to make pretty little shoes for infants, and those 
long arms usually go to waste, the hand part becoming soiled and worn 
long before the rest is defaced. 

A VALUABLE HINT.— While the starch is still hot on the stove drop 
into it a lump of alum, and stir slowly until it is dissolved. A lump half 
the size of the thumb to two quarts of starch is about the right propor- 
tion. Your flat-iron will never dream of sticking; your aprons, shirt- 
waists, etc.. will keep clean much longer; the dirt does not rub in easily, 
and as this starch gives the fabrics somewhat of a water-proof nature 
spatters can often be rubbed or washed off before the material has had 
time to absorb them. 

TO RENOVATE VEILS.— It does not follow that because a veil has 
been rained upon it is a ruined veil. By carefully removing it from the 
hat, in order not to tear the mesh, and then pinning it over a pillow, 
the impromptu bath will sometimes prove rather a blessing, and the 
original freshness will be restored. 

TESTS FOR CLOTH.— Of the goods sold as "all wool." there is not 
one-tenth that is genuine. In the greater part, the main component is 
cotton. The test is simple. All that is necessary is to pull out a few 
threads and apply a lighted match. Cotton will go off in a blaze: wool 
will shrivel up. 

To distinguish true, pure linen from the counterfeit article is even 
easier. The intending buyer need but wet her finger and apply it to 
the goods. If they be pure linen, the moisture will pass straight through; 
the spot touched will be soaked at once, and almost immediately one 
side will be as wet as the other. 



36 THE HELPER 

Frauds are more numerous in silk than in any other fabric, but here, 
also, the material of adulteration is cotton. Its presence can readily be 
discovered. Draw a few threads out. The pieces of cotton will snap 
off short when pulled, while the silk will stretch and permit a consid- 
erable pull before breaking:. 

Silk, cotton, and wool, these are the three materials of cloth, and 
by the methods given, the purchaser can at least make certain that she 
is obtaining what she paid for. 

A TRIUMPH.— The following is from the American Woman: "One 
of the sisters asked some time ago how to wash a black satine skirt 
and have it come out looking 'as nice as new.' At last I have solved 
this problem, and wish to record the method while the victory inspires 
me. Oh, that black satine dress! How much time and patience have I 
wasted with it! How often have I washed it carefully with the purest 
of soap and the softest of Avater, only to have it come from the iron- 
table either a limp, lustreless rag or a stiff, shiny board, according to 
whether I used starch or not! But either way I wore it I had the grim 
consolation that it looked neither better nor worse than the black wash- 
dresses of my neighbors. At last I found and tried the following, which. 
I gladly pass on: Mix a half cupful of flour smooth with cold water, 
add two or three quarts of boiling water, and add it all to enough warm 
water in which to wash the dress, skirt, or waist, as the case may be. 
Wash, using no soap; rinse thoroughly twice, dry well, and do not 
sprinkle until just before ironing. Iron on the wrong side, or over a thin 
black cloth where that is impossible. My dress is perfectly clean and 
has just the lustre and stiffness of new goods." 

BLACK SILK. TO REMOVE SHINE FROM.— A dressmaker says: 
"Many years of experience in dressmaking have taught me that noth- 
ing will give better results in taking the shine from black silk than 
very strong cold, clear coffee, with a few drops of alcohol in it. Stretch and 
pin goods if possible, sponge evenly, and it will retain its color and look 
like new." 

Sore throat in the early stages can be cured by honey taken warm. 
To relieve heartburn, take a half teaspoonful of pulverized charcoal, 
or a few kernels of corn parched very brown. 

Two or three drops of oil of peppermint mixed with an equal amount 
of suet rubbed over baby's chest gives instant relief in case of a bad 
cold on the lungs, or a cough. 

Barley water is said to be one of the best renovators for a worn-out 
system. 

A teaspoonful of salt in a glass of water, taken before breakfast, is 
said by people who have tried it, to be a ^ure cure for hay fever. 



THE HELPER 37 

DIPHTHERIA, TO PREVENT.— While there is nothing on earth that 
will absolutely prevent diphtheria or any other contagious disease, there 
are measures and remedies which are certainly of value. The following 
compound is extensively sold for $1.00 a pint bottle. It can be made at 
the expense of a few cents. For the cure of sore throat and to prevent 
diphtheria take one ounce of black cohosh root, put it in a bowl and 
pour on it a pint of boiling water. When it is steeped use it. hot as 
possible as a gargle. Many cases of so-called diphtheria could be cured 
by a gargle of salt and water if taken at the start, gargling every hour. 
-or half hour, if necessary. The writer as well as a friend of the same 
age, at one time suffered frequently from quinsy or tonsilitis. They 
took fifteen drops of tincture of iron in a little water at the first appear- 
ance of soreness in the throat, and neither of them had quinsy since 
—now ten years ago. The mixture should not touch the teeth, as it is apt 
to injure them. No drink or food should be taken for an hour after 
the mixture is taken. The treatment given for croup is very efficacious 
for sore throat and diphtheria. E. F. Rotesch, of Tacoma, Wash., says 
he had four children afflicted with diphtheria at one time. They were 
very ill, and were given up to die by the doctor, when he decided to 
try a simple remedy kept in every house. He got coal oil and poured 
a teaspoonful into the mouth, and in an instant coughing commenced. 
Great pieces of yellow matter came up and the sick were free to 
breathe. The throat was washed with oil every two hours, and a gargle 
of salt water was used, and the third day all were up and playing. One 
drop of tincture of iron in a teacup of water is recommended for diph- 
theria, the dose to be increased one drop with each year. The solution 
should be used as a gargle, and once an hour a teaspoonful should be 
swallowed. 

SCARLET FEVER. TO CURE.— An emineut physician says he cured 
ninety-nine out of every hundred cases of scarlet fever by giving the 
patient warm lemonade with a little gum arabic dissolved in it. A cloth 
wrung out in hot water should be laid upon the stomach and renewed 
as soon as it becomes cold. Scarlet fever and small-pox may be pre- 
vented by rinsing the mouth with a little listerine several times a week. 

CROUP, CURE FOR.— One authority upon such matters makes the 
bold assertion that nine-tenths of the children who die of croup might 
be saved by the timely application of roasted onions, mashed, laid upon 
a napkin, and well moistened with goose oil, sweet oil, or if neither of 
these is at hand, melted hog's lard, the whole to be applied as warm 
as the child can bear it, to the throat and upper part of the chest Sim- 
ilar poultices should be placed on the hands and feet. This treatment 
is also very efficacious in diphtheria. 

A mother says: "For croup. I find skunk-oil the best remedy. Rub it 



38 THE HELPER 

od the chest of the little one when you give it internally. A teaspoonful 
is a dose, and I never have to administer the third one." 

Some firms are selling a preventive for croup in the shape of a cord, 
for $1 up. It is nothing else but a silk cord, long enough to go several 
times around the neck, double it. twist, and tie loosely about the throat. 
This is an old and tried means of preventing this dreaded disease. 

EXCELLENT ADVICE.— Mrs. Hattie Gullett, of Moran, Kansas, says: 
•'Dear mothers, do you know that you may save yourselves great 
anxiety and trouble and the little ones much suffering if, during the 
winter months, you occasionally burn a little sulphur through your house? 
Do this once in two weeks. It is also a good plan to keep a can of lime 
and copperas in the sleeping-rooms, as it is an excellent disinfectant. I 
follow this practice, and have not had a physician in my house for ten 
years." 

WHOOPING-COUGH.— For the whooping-cough just pound the best 
black resin very tine, and give as much as will lie on a cent, in a little 
moist sugar, three times a day, commencing before breakfast. This 
simple remedy has been known to cure the most obstinate cases of 
whooping-cough in three weeks. Another good thing for the same dis- 
ease is, steep a handful of chestnut leaves in a pint of boiling water, 
sweeten, cool, and give the tea as a common drink five or six times a 
day. 

A towel dipped in hot water, wrung out rapidly, folded to proper 
size, and applied to the abdomen, with a dry flannel over the hot towel, 
acts like magic in infantile colic. Laying the baby face down over a hot 
water bag is also efficient in mild cases. 

A famous physician says: "In children when they have pain of any 
kind in stomach or bowels, give them ten drops homeopathic tincture 
chamomilla in half a tumbler of water; teaspoonful every twenty min- 
utes. It is the best "baby medicine" in the world." 

COLDS, HOW TO PREVENT IN CHILDREN.— Children whose feet 
are bathed regularly night and morning in cold w r ater, then wiped, rather 
rubbed dry, with a coarse towel, as a rule are exempt from colds. 

Even washing the feet tends greatly to preserve health. The perspir- 
ation and dirt with which these parts are frequently covered, can not 
fail to obstruct their pores. This piece of cleanliness would often prevent 
colds and fevers. 

COLDS.— It is said that a few drops, ten or twenty, of a good tinc- 
ture of catnip, the common name for nepeta cataria, in hot water, every 
hour, will break up a cold in less time than any other remedy. Most of 
the physicians of twenty years ago can readily recall the important 
place catnip held In the family medicine chest in "the good old days." 



THE HELPER 39 

It can be taken in sweetened water, and makes a most pleasant rem- 
edy as well as efficacious. Give it a trial when yon have a patient with 
a fresh cold. 

Cold sores may be cured at once, by holding the lips in hot water. 
Keep it up for about five minutes, having- water as hot as can be 
borne. There is no need of having the blisters break, or suffering at all 
with them after you feel them coming, for the hot water will kill them 
at once. 

Did you know you can stop a patient from hiccoughing by making 
him sneeze? A handy pinch of snuff is all that is needed. 

Advise those weepy people with red eye-lids to bathe them in water 
containing a little powdered borax. They will think you are a magic- 
worker. A similar lotion is good for red noses. 

COUGH SYRUP, THE BEST.— Inasmuch as there are many cough 
remedies on the market which contain opium and other injurious ingre- 
dients, it may be just as well to tell here how to make the best cough 
medicine in the world: Take 1 ounce of thorough wort, 1 ounce of slip- 
pery elm, 1 ounce of stick licorice, and 1 ounce of flaxseed, simmer to- 
gether in one quart of water until the strength is entirely extracted. 
Strain carefully, add one pine of best molasses and one-half pound of 
loaf sugar: simmer them all well together, and when cold bottle tight. 
This is the cheapest, best and safest medicine now or ever in use. 

TOOTHACHE.— A doctor says: "Boys, don't forget that a person may 
have constant toothache when the teeth are perfectly sound. I've known 
women to have good teeth pulled, over the protest of the dentist, when 
what they needed was phosphates of lime and soda. They wanted the 
doctor, not the dentist." 

Equal parts of alum and salt, or even salt alone, placed on a piece of 
cotton wool and inserted in the hollow of an aching tooth will often give 
relief when other means have failed. 

The worst toothache, or neuralgia coming from the teeth, may be 
speedily cured by the application to the defective tooth of a bit of cotton 
saturated with ammonia. 

CORNS.— The same doctor says: "-I have seen somewhere that linseed 
oil is a certain remedy for hard and soft corns. It is said to relieve the 
pain and induration in a short time. Apply on a soft cloth and dampen 
afresh night and morning. Bind a piece of cotton we1 in kerosense on 
corns every night for a week, and they will disappear." Another author- 
ity says: "Any one who is troubled with corns on the feet will find a 
cure in tying on them a cloth saturated witli turpentine mixed with 
just a little lard: do this three nights in succession, then if the corns 
are again troublesome after a month or so, go over the same process 



40 THE HELPER 

again and the cure is complete. At least, it has proved so in my case, as 
it has been more than three years since my corns disappeared, and there 
is no further sign of them." 

INGROWING TOE NAILS.— Cut straight across, being careful not to 
cut the corners, and the nail will not grow in. If growing in, cut straight 
across and scrape the top of the nail lengthwise. Do not laugh. Try it. 

PILE SALVE.— Probably some one will appreciate an excellent salve 
for piles. It has been given to a great many, and all declare it good. Take 
ten grains each of calomel, morphine, nutgall and camphor, mix with one 
ounce of fresh lard or vaseline, and apply night and morning. 

DYSENTERY.— In diseases of this kind the Indians use the roots and 
leaves of the blackberry bush— a decoction of which, in hot water, well 
boiled down, is taken in doses of a gill before each meal and before re- 
tiring to bed. It is an almost infallible cure. 

Watermelon, Mark Twain says, always drives away dysentery- If one 
slice didn't take effect, then take a second and a third. No matter how 
serious the case was, three slices, he insisted, would cure it. 

An interested reader of The Boston Traveler sent in two recipes for 
children or adults who suffer with summer complaint in hot weather. 
She states that she has used both for years and finds them perfectly 
reliable. The first was her mother's never-failing remedy and the sec- 
ond has been known for years as the East India cholera cure. Mix one 
teaspoonful of the common ground cinnamon, used for cooking, with as 
much saleratus as can be placed on one-fourth inch of the point of a 
teaspoon and one teaspoonful of sugar. Pour on boiling water, let it 
remain until cool then add one ounce of tincture of rhubarb. The dose 
is one-half to a whole wineglassful. The Eastern remedy is made of 
one ounce each of camphor, capsicum, tincture of rhubarb, opium and pep- 
permint. It is to be taken in milk or water, five drops for a child, 20 drops 
for an adult, the dose repeated every two hours until relieved. 

An infant should be given no food containing starch until it cuts its 
teeth. Starchy foods include biscuits, corn flour, tapioca, rice, potato, etc. 
An infant cannot digest any of these until its teeth are cut. 

NATURE CURE FOR DIARRHOEA.— W. D. Wattles, in Woman's 
Physical Development, says: "I have made a special study of 'specific' 
movements for various diseases, and consider it a most important field 
of research. Following is a description of a movement which, if prop- 
erly executed, will cure any case of dysentery, diarrhoea or cholera in- 
fantum, that is not beyond the reach of anything but a resurrection. There 
is absolutely no need of allowing children to die of 'summer complaint' 
and the thousands of little graves in our cemeteries are a monument to 
the ignorance and prejudice of drug doctors and parents. 



THE HELPER 41 

"Place the patient on back; put your hands under him a trifle above 
the waist line, with the fingers pressing against the sides of the spine. 
Now lift him until only the back of the head and heels touch the floor, 
and hold him for a moment in that position; then let him gently down. 
Repeat the movement twice, at intervals of five minutes; then allow a 
half hour's rest, and if necessary repeat the treatment. Only a very stub- 
born case will require more than three treatments. Absolutely no food 
should be given until the cure is complete. In the case of cholera in- 
fantum, hold the child by the nape of the neck and the heels; lay it, back 
down, across your knee, letting the head and heels hang down, so as to 
stretch the abdomen strongly. 

"If the person be too heavy to lift, seat him on a low stool, and your- 
self on a higher one behind him; put your knees against the small of his 
back, grasp him by the shoulders and bend him backward strongly, over 
your knees. For self-treatment, balance yourself, on your back, over a 
bar, on the foot-board of your bed, letting your head and heels hang down. 
Repeat, in all cases, as often as necessary. 

•'I have used this movement many times and have recommended it to 
numbers of people; and I have yet to learn of a case where it has failed. 
I believe it to be infallible when properly done. The pressure upon the 
abdominal plexuses of the sympathetic nerve appears to check the exces- 
sive peristalsis of the bowels, and to reverse their action. This knowledge 
if it were in the possession of parents and physicians would save thou- 
sands of lives every year." 

HALL'S HYGIENIC TREATMENT.— This so-called "secret" consists 
in the use of an injection of hot water into the rectum two or three times 
a week or more frequently, and in a quantity of a pint to a gallon. Using 
an ordinary family syringe. 

HOT LEMONADE CURE- For dyspepsia, indigestion, biliousness, 
sick headaches, torpid or congested liver, poison or impure blood, the 
cause of neuralgia and rheumatism, etc., use one-half to a full teaspoon 
of the juice of a lemon to a coffee cup of hot water, three times a day 
one-half hour before eating; drink very hot and if too sour use less lemon. 
In some cases, lemon may be used only once each day, taking instead hot 
water before the dinner and supper meal. It is always wise to do much 
fasting whenever the system is clogged and the above expressions of dis- 
ease exist. 

THE BEST SPRING MEDICINE.— The juice of half a lemon in a 
.ulass of hot water (unsugared) taken before breakfast t'xevy morning 
for a week is the best "spring medicine" you can have. 

CONSTIPATION.— This prolific cause of disease enriches pill-makers. 
Some doctors say that pills have done more harm in the world than 
war. A diet of apples, oranges, fruits of all kinds, with whole wheat 



42 THE HELPER 

bread, oatmeal, etc., being careful not to overeat, will usually cure this 
disease. If constipated, work the liver vigorously; it lies about half 
concealed— or nearly so— under the ribs to the rig-tit of the stomach pit, 
or. in most cases, nearly to the right of the stomach. This organ will 
often cease to throw a proper volume of "bile" into the intestines; hence 
they become dry, and their contents do not move on. We call this con- 
stipation. Iu nine cases out of ten, a good shaking up of the liver will 
remedy this state. Exercise the whole body by any fair means on retiring 
and arising. 

A good exercise for constipation is to stand erect with hands on 
hips and knees straight, bending far to the left and right alternately. 
Another good exercise for this complaint, far better than di*ugs, is to 
stretch out on a level surface, bring the right leg up, clasping hands 
over knee, and pulling leg up as far as possible. Another tried remedy 
is wheat bran, which is readily swallowed when mixed with some warm 
liquid, a teaspoonful being sufficient for most persons. 

DYSPEPSIA, A CURE FOR.— Dr. Burgevin, writes to the Alkaloidal 
Clinic about a method which cured him and many others, after several 
years of continuous torture: "I ordered 1 pound of pecan nuts for an adult 
every day, to be eaten after each meal, i. e., one pound is the daily dose, 
to be divided in three equal portions. The nuts are to be cracked as 
they are eaten, consumed slowly immediately after eating; and at no 
other time. Nothing else is to be eaten between meals, but the patient 
is to be allowed whatever he wishes at meal times. In other words, 
no restriction is placed upon the diet, except that the patient must take 
three meals a day and no more, and these at regular hours, and eat 
nothing whatever between meals." 

MARK TWAIN'S PANACEA.— "A little starvation," Mark Twain 
says, "can really do more for the average sick man than can the best 
medicines and the best doctors. I do not mean a restricted diet; I mean 
total abstention from food for one or two days. I speak from experience; 
starvation has been my cold and fever doctor for fifteen years and has 
accomplished a cure in all cases." 

NATURE'S HEALTH RESTORER— The following method of curing 
disease without drugs is not new, on the contrary, has been successfully 
employed for years: Disease may often be cured by abstinence from all 
food, especially if the disorders have been brought on by luxurious liv- 
ing and repletion. The latter overtaxes nature, and it naturally rebels 
against such treatment. Indigestion, giddiness, headache, dyspepsia, men- 
tal depression, etc., are often the result of eating and drinking to ex- 
cess. Omit one. two or three meals, allow the system to rest, to regain 
strength, and allow the clogged organs to get rid of their burdens. The 
practice of drug taking to cleanse the stomach, though it mav at times 



THE HELPER 43 

give the needed relief, always weakens the system, while abstinence 
secures the same result, and yet does no injury. A glass of pure cold 
water (not ice water), swallowed just before retiring at night, and an- 
other immediately upon arising in the morning, is an excellent thing for 
cleansing the stomach of impurities and keeping it healthy. Be tem- 
perate in all things, and health and happiness will be yours. 

Said a young gentleman to a distinguished physician of Philadelphia— 
"Doctor, what do you do for yourself when you have headache or 
other slight attacks?" "Go without my dinner." was the reply. "Well, if that 
will not do, how do you proceed then?" "Go without my supper?" was 
the answer. "But if that does not cure you, what then?" "Go without 
my breakfast. We physicians seldom take medicines ourselves, or use 
them in our families, for we know that starving is better, but we cannot 
make our patients believe it." 

HOW TO MAKE BABIES PLUMP.-A mother says: "Do you all 
know the value of cod-liver oil, as a medicine for small children? If a 
wee one has been sick, or is thin and delicate, just try greasing the little 
body all over every morning with the oil, and see how plump baby will 
get in a very short time. The next time you have that bad headache, 
take the juice of a lemon in a cup of hot coffee. It has relieved me when 
the doctor's medicine failed, and is not injurious to the system." 

A nurse says: "I have found that rubbing delicate persons with warm 
olive oil is an excellent tonic. If I had charge of a puny, sickly baby, 
I should feel inclined to give it oil baths instead of water baths and try 
the effect. The oil is quite as cleansing, and it stands to reason that 
such tiny beings, particularly if they are badly nourished, should not 
have the natural oil of the body continually washed away." A good 
authority says: "A friend of mine whose baby suffered from colds and 
colic from the age of five days to three months, tells me that since I 
told her of olive oil all conditions have rapidly changed for the better. 
A teaspoonful dose for cathartic, or small doses occasionally during the 
day in case of cold, is my rule. Give in prepared food or just before 
nursing. A teaspoonful will usually correct any tendency to bowel 
trouble of any kind. Olive oil is a food of value as well as a tonic; 
use it whenever needed and teach your children to like it. My three-year- 
old daughter says it is 'good,' because I smile when I give it to her." 

COLD ANKLES.— Doctors say that cold ankles kill more women than 
nerves and disease put together. This may be an exaggeration, but it is 
not to say when the ankles are well protected and kept perfectly warm 
their owner is not likely to suffer with colds. 

ALTERIS CORDIAL.— This famous cure is made as follows: Take 
coarse wheat bran, the coarser the better, put it in an oven until it 
becomes as coffee, then mix from two to live drachms of citrate 



44 THE HELPER 

of iron and ammonia to about one quart of the browned bran. Mix thor- 
oughly. Take two or three teaspoonfuls of the mixture in milk or cream 
before meals. It is well to mix two or three tablespoonfuls of sugar in 
the compound when first made. You can use as little or as much sugar 
as you like. This remedy has performed some wonderful cures in weak. 
debilitated, broken down persons. 

RHEUMATISM, TO CURE.— The cures for rheumatism are legion. 
The following is recommended as a sure cure for rheumatism, and is cer- 
tainly harmless, bathe the parts affected with water in which potatoes 
or their skins have been boiled, using it as hot as can be borne, just 
before going to bed. Ky next morning the pain will be much relieved if 
not removed. One application of this simple remedy has cured the most 
obstinate rheumatic pains. The author of this book was bedridden with 
rheumatism for five months at one time, and after trying everything 
the doctors could think of, he was finally cured by the use of lemon 
juice. At first he took the juice of half a lemon in a little water (no 
sugar) every hour until 48 lemons were consumed; he was able to move 
around by this time; the amount of lemon juice was lessened, and in 
a week he was a well man. Since that time he has had slight attacks 
of rheumatism, all of which were quickly cured by the timely use 
of lemon juice. He now uses no other medicine outside of lemons when 
feeling unwell, which condition seldom happens. Many doctors now use 
lemon juice for the cure of rheumatism— indeed, it is highly recom- 
mended. A celebrated doctor says he can relieve the pain of rheuma- 
tism when caused by retention, in ten minutes, by means of an epsom salt 
bath: namely. 1 ounce of epsom salts to 1 gallon of water. When rheu- 
matism is caused by debility, the system must be built up before a cure 
can be made. This physician says the epsom salts in the water opens 
the pores of the skin as nothing else does, and this is all that is necessary 
when rheumatism is caused by a chill and dampness. The epsom salt 
bath relieves the cough in consumption, and the doctor thinks it is im- 
possible to cure a case of consumption without the bath. Those who 
have tried this kind of a bath pronounce it •'tine and dandy."' 

FELON, TO CURE.— For a felon take common rock-salt, dry in an 
oven and pound Hue. mix with equal parts spirits of turpentine, put on 
a cloth and wrap the finger. As it becomes dry put on more, and in 
twenty-four hours you are cured. The felon will be dead. 

A BOON FOR BURNS.— The Rev. David M. Sweets, of Shelby ville, 
Ky., says. "In every household there is often an immediate need for 
something to relieve the intense pain of a burn. The best and cheapest 
remedy is made as follows: Melt together two toaspoonsful of lard and 
five cents' worth of gum camphor and mix thoroughly. Pour into a 
salve box or -lass, and let stand until cool. Keep it covered tightly and 
convenient lor ready use. and the moment mother burns her hand on the 



THE HELPER 45 

cooking stove, or baby falls against the hot stove, or into the open 
grate, apply it lavishly to the burn and bind up. It will relieve the tor- 
ture in a few minutes. A man not far from my home was burned 
by steam and fire in the explosion of a sawmill boiler. The doctor de- 
spaired of his life. At the suggestion of a good old "grandmother," lie 
was literally covered with the preparation. His pain was relieved 
quickly and he recovered without scars. This is a good thing to keep 
ready for use, as much of its efficacy depends on a speedy application." 

PUMPKIN SEEDS. —The medical value of pumpkin seeds are not gen- 
erally known. Medical Talk says: As a cure for tape worm, there is no 
better remedy than pumpkin seeds. The seeds should be eaten raw 
and no other food taken for a clay or two. This diet should be followed 
by a thorough physic of castor oil. This treatment is generally suffi- 
cient to bring away the worm. 

A few pumpkin seed steeped in soft water for an hour make an 
excellent remedy for babies when they have any urinary difficulty. Stop- 
page of the urine or too frequent urination is promptly relieved by 
pumpkin seed tea, as above described. A little sugar may be added 
before administered. 

Pumpkin seeds are cheap and are a good thing to have about the 
house. Eating a half dozen pumpkin seeds every day regulates the 
kidneys a great deal better than the doctor's stuff. They rid the stom- 
ach and bowels of worms and prevent gaseous fermentation. 

If you have dyspepsia, try roasted pumpkin seeds. If you have 
weakness of the kidneys, try raw pumpkin seeds. Many cases of catarrh 
of the bladder have been cured by pumpkin seeds. 

CURE EOR TOBACCO HABIT.— Here is a recipe for the cure of 
the habit. Try it. Buy two ounces or more of gentian-root, coarsely 
ground. Take as much of it after each meal, or oftener, as amounts to 
a common quid of '•Hue-cut." Chew it slowly and swallow the root. 
Continue this a week or two and the insatiable appetite for tobacco 
will be gone. 

ROYAL RELIEF.— This extensively advertised remedy is made as fol- 
lows: Powdered dried mint leaves, 1 lb.; oil of peppermint, 8 oz. Mix- 
up into a soft paste and divide into packets of three-fourths ounce each. 
wrapping carefully in tinfoil to prevent evaporation. Put up this way 
if you sell the goods and not for the formula. Then direct all purchasers 
to mix above with 6 ounces of alcohol, shake thoroughly, then add 
enough water to make a pint. Let it stand for two days, shaking often, 
then filter through blotting paper and put in bottles ready for use. For 
internal use take ten drops on a lump of sugar. 

SORE THROAT.— A large household with an inclination to sore 
throat on the slightest exposure, in season and out of season, has 



4G THE HELPER 

''slammed the door on the doctor's nose" for over two years, thanks to the 
use of peroxide of hydrogen. Even little ones can gargle it, if it be re- 
duced with water. Buy in small quantities and keep the bottle tightly 
corked with a glass stopper. Use at the very hrst appearance of sore- 
ness. 

RALSTON BRAN LEMONADE.— The most nourishing drink for the 
brain and nervous system, as well as for the general vitality, is bran 
water. It is not likely to become popular, as it costs little or nothing; 
but let any person whose brain is tired or is overworked or wearied 
from any employment that saps the vitality take a glass of bran 
water, either with or without the lemonade, and the result will be 
surprising. Owing to the great predominance of phosphorus in bran, 
the nervous system as well as vitality of body and brain are quickly 
nourished, and the eyes become bright and all weariness departs. You 
should get some small flouring mill to saye you the bran; or it can be 
purchased of any grain dealer. One pint of bran in two quarts of water 
should be boiled five minutes, then strained through cheese cloth, and 
allowed to stand an hour or two in order to settle. Add ice; and, if you 
prefer, add lemons and sugar. Persons who are easily fatigued during 
the day should drink bran water occasionally. Shop girls, clerks, peo- 
ple of sedentary habits and care-worn mothers will become new beings 
under the influence of phosphorus taken in this way; while on the 
other hand any phosphates taken in medicinal drinks or liquid form sold 
as medicine will be found to be disorganized and therefore injurious 
to the health. 

THE BEST STIMULANT.— Hot milk is one of the best stimulants for 
persons suffering from hunger or extreme fatigue. 

Any degree of weariness of limbs and feet is instantly removed by 
thrusting the feet into a pail of very warm water. 

CHILBLAINS.— Dr. Monroe, in Practical Medicine, says: "One winter 
a few years ago I suffered greatly from chilblains. I tried many rem- 
edies, but they seemed to be ineffectual. I became very nervous from the 
perpetual annoyance. I applied to many physicians for relief. One 
suggested this, and another that. I applied to corn doctors; none gave 
me relief. I was nearly crazy. One evening I happened to notice at 
my house a bottle of acetate of zinc. I told my wife to dissolve a tea- 
spoonful in a washbowl of water, and I would try it. I did so, and the 
relief was so great that I fell asleep with my feet in the water. I used 
it three or four times and the chilblains were all gone. I presume I 
have recommended this to a hundred sufferers, and I have never heard 
of a failure to cure." 

SMALL-POX AND SCARLET FEVER CURE.- 1 herewith append 
a recipe which has been used to my knowledge in hundreds of cases 



THE HELPER 47 

of small-pox. It will prevent, or cure, though the pittings are filling. 
When Jenner discovered the cox-pox in England the world of science 
overwhelmed him with fame, but when the most scientific school of 
medicine in the world, that of Paris, published the recipe, it passed 
unheeded. It is as unfailing as fate, and conquers in every instance. 
It will also cure scarlet fever. Here is the recipe as I have used it 
to cure ^mall-pox: Sulphate of zinc, one grain; digitalis, one grain; 
sugar, one-half teaspoonful. Dissolve in a wineglass of soft water or 
water which has been boiled and cooled. Take a teaspoonful every 
hour. Either small-pox or scarlet fever will disappear in twelve hours. 
For children the dose must be diminished according to age. If countries 
would compel their physicians to use this treatment there would be no 
need of pesthouses. If you value your life use this x-ecipe.— Southern 
Dental Journal. 

HEARTBURN.— After being told that lying on the left side was a 
cure for heartburn, Sir William Thompson, after thinking a moment, 
said: "Why, yes, I've heard about that remedy, but I had not thought 
about it for fifty years— since, in fact, I was a student in Germany. I 
suffered then from an attack of heartburn, and an old farmer told me 
to lie on my left side. I did so and got quick relief, but I had forgotten 
all about it, and have continued to treat my patients with sand." An- 
other doctor says: "Anyhow, I know that lying on the left side for 
an hour or two after going to bed will allow the stomach to finish up 
its day's work in peace and will cure many cases of indigestion with 
their long train of evils." 

A SIMPLE REMEDY.— For a sore that doesn't seem to heal, bind on 
light-brown sugar moistened a very little with water. 1 have known this 
to heal when nothing else would, and it draws out soreness, and pain. 
Sorghum molasses bound on in the same way is another good remedy. 

BURNS.— One woman says: "For burns or scalds, apply immediately 
the white of egg. My little girl pulled the stopper out of the washing- 
machine and scalded herself so badly that it seemed as if the skin would 
come off. I ran for an egg, applied the white, and in fifteen minutes she 
had ceased crying and nearly all the red had disappeared; only two 
little spots not so large as pennies ever showed that she had been scalded, 
and the clothes were boiling when I turned them into the machine." 

CATARRH AND HEADACHE CUKE.-Tliis cure has been sold all 
over the country for from 25 to 50 cents. It consists of 1 ounce of oil of 
mustard, 1 ounce of oil of citronella, mixed. A three-dram bottle is then 
filled three-fourths full with coarse salt and ten drops of the mixture 
dropped into the bottle, which is corked tightly. Sit down and smell the 
bottle till the eyes and nose water freelj, when relief will come. 

RAW EGGS.— A doctor in Utah writes to the Medical Brief, as fol- 



48 THE HELPER 

lows: "For about two years the writer got on a raw-egg hobby. Every- 
body had to swallow raw eggs or change doctors. Thar was a bad two 
years for undertakers in that neighborhood, and hard times for the 
doctor as well. The human being, so-called, is more or less a fool. If 
he or she don't like a thing the doctor has a hard time that prescribes 
that thing. After a while the writer dropped the raw-egs hobby more 
or less because it did not pay. Folks did not like to bolt raw eggs whole, 
and the writer has concluded to let them have their way. Very sorry, 
but it had to come to this, for the exchequer was low. Thus, 

"With ways that please 
I now treat disease." 

THE CELEBRATED DRINK CURE.— A few dimes' worth of stramo- 
nium leaves will furnish an extract warranted to produce a physicial 
aversion to alcohol in all its forms — an aversion rising at last to a horror 
at the merest scent of once irresistible beverages. Speculators got hold 
of that secret and called the specific the "Vital Power Cure" in Europe, 
and the "Gold Cure" in America: but the fact remains that the virtue 
of temperance can be inoculated like tuberculine, or administered in a 
glass of lemonade, like a sedative in a spoonful of treacle. Before using 
this remedy, ask your druggist how much it would be safe to take at 
one time. 

SCIATICA.— I suffered from sciatica and rheumatism the torments of 
hell for six weeks, cured in less than three minutes by rubbing in from 
hip to heel half an ounce carbon bisulphide, Give it to suffering human- 
ity. 

A gentleman from Cauda called to see me — saw my intense sufferings 
— and told me a wealthy man spent a large fortune in trying to get cured 
of rheumatism, and ten cents' worth of the above cured him. Like 
a drowning man grasping a straw I tried it. and was well before I got 
dressed.— Dr. W. S. Cline, in Alkaloidal Clinic. 

EPSOM SALTS.— A popular and well-known doctor, in the course of 
a long article in a medical journal, has the following to say of epsom 
salts: "Take any empty patent medicine bottle, till it up with water 
and one tablespoonful of magnesium sulphate, and tell the patient to 
take it. according to the printed directions on the bottle, and let you know 
if it isn't better than what was in it. It may destroy his faith in patent 
medicine, but it will increase his faith in you and in salts. A half pound 
of epsom salts in one quart of water with vinegar enough to make it 
sour, will cure warts, boils, old ulcers, and is an excellent diuretic, dose 
one or two tablespoonfuls three or four times a day. 

Spinach is now in high favir as an article of diet. Chemists affirm 
that it contains more iron to the square inch "than most of the renowned 
ferruginous remedies." 



THE HELPER 49 

One of the most common ailments among children is earache. The best 
remedy is a few drops of olive oil warmed to a blood-heat temperature. 
For earache, iet a drop of raw beet-juice fall in the ear while warm. The 
beet should be grated and the juice squeezed out through a cloth. 

A lemon applied to a felon will often abort it. Cut off one end of the 
lemon and stick in the linger, leaving it twelve hours. 

Yellow dock, root or leaves, steeped in vinegar, will cure the worst 
case of ringworm. Common wash- bluing applied to a ringworm will de- 
stroy it. It is also good for burns and sores. The application must be 
repeated, as it dries in fast. 

The juice of a lemon, taken in hot water on wakening in the morn- 
ing, is an excellent liver corrective, and for stout women is better than 
any anti-fat medicine ever invented. Daily headaches which medicines 
have failed to cure will disappear and the appetite will be considerably 
improved. 

A tea made of three-fourths mullein and one-fourth hoarhound is good 
for consumption, and a teaspoonful of extract of hoarhound in a 
cup of warm milk, taken three times a day, will cure this disease. 

And old doctor says: "Put a hot water bag over the small of the 
back in dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation, and bring down the 
patient's blessings on your devoted head." 

If any one having the heart-burn will chew a few grains of roasted 
coffee, relief will soon be obtained. To drink a little fresh, sweet milk 
is also good. 

The catarrh remedies of our nostrum venders vary in price from 
half a dime to a dollar; but in efficacy cannot begin to compete with 
a cent's worth of brown sugar, stirred up in hot water with a few drops 
of sweet milk. This, with persistent breathing through the nose and 
right living, is the best medicine for catarrh. 

Bind horseradish-leaves on the feet as a remedy for cramps of the 
limbs; continue their use for a week or two and you will be cured of 
the cramp. 

Turpentine, applied to a fresh cut or a sore, will relieve pain and pro- 
mote a cure. 

Do you know that pure pickerel-oil applied morning and evening to 
the ear will cure deafness? Four drops will do. Be sure and get the pure 
pickerel-oil. 

Dr. Catlin observed in his travels, that persons who kept their mouths 
closed during sleep in malarial districts, and breathed through the nose 
were less liable to fevers. 

The following is warranted to put flesh on a person if anything will: 
One quart of the best wine, one-half pint each of olive oil and bees' honey. 



50 THE HELPER 

Shake well together and take a wineglass with each meal. The juice of 
a lemon can be added if found too sweet. Eat fattening things and if 
you have no disease you will gain in a short time. 

If a man would take the hint, when he goes around sneezing every 
few minutes, and would take a hot foot-bath, go to bed, rest and diet 
himself for a day or two, respiratory diseases would be scarcer than 
they are. 

FOOD MEDICINE.— Dr. Hall advances a theory that food can be used 
as a curative remedy equally well with medicine. He relates a case where 
a man was cured of biliousness by going without his supper, and with 
free use of lemonade. This patient rose, he says, after he began the use 
of this drink refreshed, and with a feeling as though his blood had liter- 
ally been cleansed. He further says that he cures cases of spittiug of 
blood by using salt: epilepsy and yellow fever by watermelons; kidney 
affections by celery; poison, by olive or sweet oil; erysipelas, by pounded 
cranberries, applied to the part affected; hydrophobia, by onions. If this 
theory is correct, drugs will soon become "drugs" in the market, and peo- 
ple will soon learn that the way to keep well is to eat certain kinds of 
food. The world will thus become healthier and happier. 

A GOOD LINIMENT.— Dr. M. S. Moore, of Florence, Ark., has the 
following in Medical Brief: Take two United States copper cents and 
nitric acid sufficient to dissolve. Dissolve in glass tumbler. Then add 
best apple vinegar to make one quart. Nothing but the 
best apple vinegar will do. If it is pure, the solution will be a clear green 
color. This is the best liniment on earth. Applied three times a day, 
will stop risings, boils, felons, will make indolent ulcers heal nicely. For 
any and all pains, use three times a day. I have cured many so-called 
cancers by applying three times a day. Will remove small tumors under 
the skin. It is also fine for eczema or skin diseases. Try it. 

PIMPLES, TO CURE.— An old doctor says in the Medical Brief: 
"There never was a doctor who wasn't plagued with young men and 
young women, who want to get rid of disfiguring pimples and black- 
heads. I give them the following stimulating lotion: Salicylic acid, one 
drach; Listerine, one ounce; Pond's Extract of Witch Hazel, two ounces. 
This is an excellent compound for the purpose. Also, for dandruff. Apply 
twice a day." 

Pimples and blackheads can be easily cured at home without the aid 
of drugs of any kind, if the following directions are carefully carried 
out: Take a thick Turkish towel and dip it into water as hot as the face 
will bear. Then bury the face into this steaming cloth until the heat has 
all left it. Repeat this operation for 15 or 20 minutes, night and morning, 
and in a fortnight you will have no blackheads. To make the skin soft 
and fair a nightly massage with olive or almond oil and careful protection 
at all times from extremes of heat and cold are the most effective means. 



THE HELPER 51 

HUMBUGGERY AND MEDICINE.— It is almost impossible to pick 
up a paper, journal or magazine of any kind without at once discover- 
ing some valuable and tried remedy for "that tired feeling," "spring com- 
plaints," etc., any and all of which are the vilest of nostrums, unfit to 
introduce into the human system in any form, and these contrivances, 
etc., are offered to the people as a sure success, all of which are simply 
a process by which the people are being duped. If people would stop 
taking medicine, pay a little more attention, to diet, exercise and care 
of the health, the patent medicine concerns would have to move to a 
new country for victims, but most people are of the idea that health 
■can be bought for a dollar, in a big bottle, and the bigger the bottle 
the more health. Doctors would also have to find some other means of 
livelihood. 

Dr. Carr, of Columbus, O., says: "Do not allow any one to persuade 
you that your restoration can be bottled up and taken with a teaspoon. 
Food; rest; exercise: sunlight; fresh air: enthusiasm; these are the 
things that will cure you, if anything. A long night's sleep. As many 
hours before midnight as possible. These are the tonics. These are 
the restoratives. That fellow who has something to sell in the way of 
a drug, or whose fingers are itching to perform a surgical operation, 
beware of him. He is more dangerous than a porch-climber or a sand- 
bagger." 

A man started in the manufacture of Patent Medicine, guaranteed to 
cure Dyspepsia and many other ills to which people think the flesh is 
heir. His Patent Medicine consisted of vile-tasted colored water, but 
the patient was instructed to take plenty of exercise, practice deep 
breathing, drink two quarts of water a day. abolish fear, and maintain 
a cheerful frame of mind, being told that these things "materially in- 
creased the efficiency of the medicine." And many bought the medi- 
cine and were cured. And the man waxed rich and fat. 

If you knew the power of nature when given a chance to keep your 
body sweet and clean and strong, would you make it a cesspool, a 
receptacle for patent poison? 

Moxie's Nerve Food, which was advertised and had a large sale 
some years ago, was simply "a decoction of oats made into a syrup and 
flavored with sassafras and wintergreen." Dr. Goodwin, in Medical 
World, says: "A few years ago a man from Kentucky came through 
this country selling a secret remedy for piles. Some healers bought it 
at a consideration of $300. The remedy was made as follows: Acetate 
of lead, 20 gr.; tannic acid, 2 dr.: calomel, 2 dr.: sulph. morphia, 4 gr.; 
glycerin. 4 oz. Triturate the first four in a mortar, and add the glycerin 
slowly." Here will be found formulas similar in effect to a few adver- 
tised remedies: 



52 THE HELPER 

COE'S ECZEMA CURE.— Milk of sulphur, y 2 oz.; carbolic acid, % 
07..: glycerin, 2 oz.; water 8 oz. Mix. 

COKE'S DANDRUFF CURE— Resoreine, 2 dr.; glycerin. 4 dr.; bay 
rum. 12 dr.; water, S oz. Mix. and color with a feAV drops of burnt sugar. 

OMEGA OIL.— Oil of eucalyptus, S oz.; oil of turpentine, 3 oz.; olive oil, 
1 oz. Mix, and color green with chlorophyll. 

PE-RU-NA.— Mexican juniper root, V/ 2 oz.; alcohol. 4 oz.; water, 12 
oz. Macerate the juniper root in coarse powder in the alcohol and water 
mixed, for a week; then strain, press and filter. 

PIERCE'S GOLDEN MEDICAL DISCOVERY.— Lactucarium, 15 gr.; 
honey, 4 dr.; tincture of opium, y 2 dr.; alcohol, 2 fl. oz.; water, 5 fl. oz. 
Mix all together thoroughly. 

LYDIA PINKHAM'S VEGETABLE COMPOUND.— Cramp bark, 4 
oz.; partridge berry vine, 4 oz.; poplar bark, 2 oz.; unicorn root, 2 oz; 
beth root, 1% oz.; cassia, 2 oz.; sugar. 24 oz. ; alcohol, 16 11. oz.; water, 
sufficient. Reduce the first six ingredients to powder, add boiling water 
enough to cover, let stand till cold, and percolate with water until 5 
pints of liquid are obtained. To this add the sugar, bring to a boil, remove 
from the fire, strain and when cold add the alcohol. 

In case of serious sickness it is always best to see a regular family 
physician, and to have nothing to do with so-called specialists, who 
advertise extensively, without your regular doctor's consent. This is 
particularly true of sexual diseases, as many know to their sorrow. Dr. 
F. L. Matthay says: "I know of no other cause of disease and death 
and disaster to the race as great as that of over indulgence of the 
sexual passion. Excessive indulgence in this way takee too much oil 
from the body, causing constipation, sallow complexion, rheumatism, 
dullness of intellect, etc." 

One reason why animals and so-called savages have better health 
than civilized people is because they always attend promptly to their 
calls of nature: 

"When Nature calls at either door, 

Do not try to bluff her; 
But hastt away, whether night or day, 
Or health is sure to suffer." 

Parents cannot impress this fact too much on the minds of their 
children if they wish them to remain healthy. If people would eat more 
fruit and nuts, and less meat, they would be healthier. "An apple a day 
keeps the doctor away." By eating slowly food is almost doubled in 
nutrition. 

FOR FEMALE TROUBLES.— One ounce of listerine; one ounce of 
glycerine; one-half ounce of sulphate of zinc; one-fourth ounce sub-nitrate 
of bismuth: thirty drops of (C. P.) carbolic acid; one quart of water. 
Directions for mixing and using: Put a pint of water in a quart bottle; 



THE HELPER 53 

then add the zinc and bismuth and shake well until dissolved. Now 
add the other ingredients and fill the bottle full of water. Use one 
tablespoonful of this to four tablespoonfuls of water, injecting with a 
syringe. It will cure any womb trouble, healing and strengthening in 
a few days. Should be used night and morning, if discharge is bad. 

ILLNESS IN PREGNANCY.— "For the dreaded morning sickness let 
me tell you that I have always used blackberry wine with the best of 
results. This I make myself by taking the juice of the cooked berry, 
sweetening it and letting it ferment. As soon as you get out of bed 
in the morning take a swallow of this. It was prescribed by a physi- 
cian, and I have never known it to fail. A cup of hot tea or coffee with 
a cracker also serves the purpose admirably; the stomach being weak and 
empty causes the nausea. Some of these simple remedies will relieve 
much suffering if taken immediately after rising in the morning." 

"Old Doc," in the Medical Brief, says: "Now and then you run 
across a pregnant woman, who persists in trying to puke up her immor- 
tal soul. After trying every blamed thiug you ever heard of without 
doing a particle of good, vou'll make up your mind that that particu- 
lar woman's time has come, and it's useless fighting fate, but, I say, 
don't despair until you have tried tincture of iodine in one to three- 
drop doses. It acts like oil on troubled waters, putting an end to the 
disturbance so quick it's hard to believe how industrious that woman 
was. Try it, I say." 

EASY CHILDBIRTH.— A mother says: "Dig spikenard-roots and 
dry them. About six weeks before you expect your little guest cut 
up enough of the spikenard to make a tablespoonful, put it in a teacup 
and fill the cup with boiling water. Cover and place on your dressing- 
table so that you will be sure to see it as soon as you are up, and drink 
what you can; if but little, drink it— more is better, however. Continue 
with this till baby comes. I have used this, and have had three children 
with but little suffering. It is perfectly harmless." The spikenard may 
be had, we should say, of any good botanic druggist at about 10 cents 
a package; postage 2 cents extra. 

Perhaps some inexperienced ones may not know that under certain 
conditions there is nothing that will give so great relief as thoroughly 
rubbing the abdomen and well around on the hips with sweet-oil. This 
done once or twice a day is very beneficial. The oil acts as a lubricant 
and when the time of suffering comes many think it renders it easier. 

The little partridge vine that grows so common in the Northern 
States is one of the best things that is on earth to help a woman have 
her child without pain and without flooding or danger. It should be 
made in the same manner that tea is made: a fourth or a half teaspoon- 
ful to a cup of water boiling and steeped. 



54 THE HELPER 



MENTAL HEALING. 



How the Mind Cures Disease. 

Mental healing is not a new discovery by any means. It has existed 
since man became capable of thought. The most healing medicine in 
the world is the saliva of a person who has a loving disposition. It 
is said to be impossible for a person who really loves his fellow crea- 
tures to have dyspepsia. 

"He liveth best who loveth best 
All things both great and small. 
For the good God who loveth us. 
He made and loveth all." 

It is admitted now by intelligent physicians that most of the diseases 
that afflict humanity are helped, if not entirely cured, by suggestion. 
Many doctors prescribe harmless powders or tablets to be dissolved in 
water. One physician says that seven-tenths of the prescriptions given 
to patients are harmless and are given to amuse until Nature cures. The 
tendency of disease is to get well. Hence we have so-called healers 
with their numerous testimonials. One healer claims to have cured 
more summer complaints than any two doctors in the world. Perhaps 
he has; but the fact is, they would get well without any healer's help. 
How then does the healer help to cure? By inspiring hope. That is 
all. Sometimes persons have unconsciously electrified themselves into 
a cure by the mind becoming so strongly impressed with the certainty 
of a cure that it electrified the part so powerfully as to set the absorbents 
at work and carried the diseased conditions off. 

Of course when medicines are taken Nature has a double duty to 
perform, for she must get rid of the medicine beside all the rest that 
is clogging the system. However, when nothing alse will give the patient 
faith, the medicine is useful. Doctors have sometimes confessed that it 
is faitli in their medicines that gives them healing power, and no prop- 
erty of the medicine. Nasty medicine is far more effective than nice 
medicine. 

Fresh air. moderate exercise, regular sleep, and kind thoughts will 
heal you of your diseases, pluck from memory its rooted sorrows, and 
put you close to all the good there is. 

There are thousands of cases on record where physicians have pre- 
scribed bread pills, or colored water, to procure a free movement 



THE HELPER 55 

of the bowels, but they are knowing enough to first tell their patient 
that their harmless remedies Will do them good if anything on earth 
will do them good. The patients return afterwards and report a cure 
while the doctor smiles to himself. In fact, most doctors in giving 
remedies for the cure of diseases, invariably say that what they pre- 
scribe will cure the patient, thus inspiring hope, the greatest remedial 
agent on earth. Physicians and druggists often refer to patent med- 
icines as "faith cures.*' They know the ingredients of the advertised 
remedies, and consequently have no faith in them, but the general 
public has. I could till a book with formulas of patent medicines show- 
ing how cheaply and easily they can be made. I know of one medi- 
cine vender who claims to have sold 30,000 packages of his famous 
"salts" in less than two years. He never got less than 50 cents for a 
package. The "salts" are usually composed of one part of table salt 
and six parts of baking soda. Many of the "salts" with hijdi-sounding 
titles are made from this formula. Dr. Peebles says half a teaspoonful of 
capsicum in a glass of milk is better than any patent medicine in the 
world. Christian Scientists claim to be healthier than other sects. And 
they are. Why? Because they are not influenced by fear and worry 
to the same extent as others. When a person worries he unconsciously 
breathes less and thus takes in less life. The cheerful, jolly person 
naturally breathes more. One reason why persons afflicted with pul- 
monary complaints recover or have their condition improved by a trip to 
New Mexico or any of the other southwestern States, is because in high 
regions one must breathe more or he will be gasping. Therefore, it 
stands to reason that extra, breathing in lower altitudes will be helpful. 

When people read about heart diseases they often fix the mind upon 
their own hearts and dwell upon the disorder till they are actually sick. 
A man reads of kidney troubles, fixes his mind on the symptoms till 
he feels a peculiar sensation in his back, concludes he has kidney trouble, 
and he has. It was brought on by his undue anxious thought. It can 
be cured readily and only by changing his thought on this subject. Dis- 
ease pictures, as presented by medicine venders in pamphlets and in 
the daily papers, make a deep impression on the minds of many people, 
and cause much sickness. The discussion of diseased conditions by the 
sick and in their presence, telling of headaches, pains, backaches, weak 
spells, and such ills as the mind can conjure up, is always depressing 
and should be discouraged. 

It is far more conducive to health to think calm, pure and good 
thoughts, for they promote digestion and a pure blood. What' a wonder- 
ful blood purifier is a proper habit of thought! "Thoughts are things." 

Dr. Paul Edwards says: "I once knew a lady in Paris who cured her 
indigestion by simply telling her stomach l hat it must digest; that the 
function was a natural one. wholly and solely the duty of the stomach, 



56 THE HELPER 

She simply sent her stomach plenty of mental force after each meal, 
then commanded the organ to go ahead." 

Reliable physicians claim that the average person requires about 
five pints of water every day. This drinking of water, with the extra 
breathing of fresh air, usually works wonders in the condition of 
chronic invalids. A person is told to breathe from the abdomen, taking 
full, deep breaths, ten or more at a time. With the expansion of the 
lungs, say to yourself: "I am taking in healing and strength with 
every breath." Every time you exhale a breath let it be with the 
thought: "I am getting rid of weakness, disease and pain." Deep 
breathing alone is often sufficient to cure stomach and bowei troubles. 
Water should be taken, not in large quantities, but a little at a time. 
The patient should also fix his mind as often as possible on a picture of 
health and to see himself as he would like to be, namely, healthy and 
strong. You ask and demand health by law and you will not only get it 
by following the law, but you will find happiness, peace, and joy, be- 
sides a strong will, a better memory and increased power of thought, 
conscious power and self-reliance. 

This is a rule which will, if followed, bring the desirable blessing 
of health. Whenever you eat, drink, breathe or exercise have in all 
the purpose of bringing into you life, health, energy, growth and power. 

Everything you do, do it cheerfully and with a will. Give everything 
the quality of your thought. When you breathe say to yourself: "This 
is for food— life — I am feeding from the air and removing 
waste and poisons from my body." (Repeat five or six times.) When 
you sip your fluids, if it be a hundred times a day: "This water is to 
insure perfect secretion and excretion, to give me a good appetite and 
digestion and a free movement of the bowels each day." (Repeat five or 
six times.) This is the best medicine in the world. 

As an eminent physician has recently said: "Thousands of people 
think themselves sick, even think themselves to death." Low spirits 
and hopelessness always impair vitality; we may say more bluntly, 
they kill. The best preventive is a cheerful mind, firm conviction, 
and purpose inspired by principle. Firm resolve alone often drives 
away disease. It is one's salvation to refuse to be worried. Let the 
mind dwell on beautiful pictures of health and happiness. Keep the 
beautiful ideals before the mind, ideals of health and strength. Culti- 
vate an expectation of being well, and you will realize the expectation, 
for what we expect, tends to appear in us. 

RULES OP HEALTH.— Stop thinking of the body. Keep it neat 
and clean and comfortably clothed. Stop finding fault with the weather 
and speaking of every change of the atmosphere as if sickness were 
contained therein. Refuse to take cold. Some people speak of certain 



THE HELPER 57 

days as good for pneumonia ; stop describing your sensations. Stop 
saying you are sick; feel tired, weak, hot or cold. Cultivate thought — 
not sensation. Stop speaking of food as digestible or indigestible; eat 
what you like and be thankful. Many an invalid is living under the 
control of sensation as much as the glutton or the inebriate. Forget 
self in trying to make others happy. Banish fear by ceasing to think 
or talk about it; stop saying I am afraid of anything. Fear, distrust and 
doubt are distressing sensations. Cultivate hope, faith, and truth; they 
are tonics of the mind. Never eat more than three kinds of solid food 
for dinner. No drinking while eating. Masticate slower. Drive all com- 
plainings out of your homes. Do good to all: harm to none. 

ABSENT TREATMENT.— If you write to any of the men or women 
who profess to give absent treatment for all kinds of diseases, you 
will receive a lot of printed matter advertising their almost miraculous 
powers. Like patent medicine makers, they exaggerate. Like patent 
medicines, they also make cures, when every other means fail. Like 
patent medicine advertisers, they use a lot of testimonials. Now. how 
does the absent treatment help the sick? Chiefly through faith and 
hope. Usually the patient has almost unbounded faith in the healer; 
without it, little can be done. The patient is instructed by letter to 
observe certain hygienic rules in regard to breathing, drinking and 
exercise. He is told to breathe from the abdomen, taking full, deep 
breaths, ten or more at a time. With the expansion of the lungs say 
to yourself: "I am taking in healing and strength with every breath." 
Every time you exhale a breath let it be with the thought. "I am getting 
rid of weakness, disease and pain." Deep breathing alone is often suffi- 
cient to cure stomach and bowel troubles. The patient is instructed to 
drink plenty of water, not in large quantities, but a lirtle at a time. 
Guard against drinking as much as even half a tumblerful at, a time. 
Let there be a few moments' rest between each spoonful or wineglass- 
ful. This water drinking will give weight to the body, purity to the 
blood, clearness to the complexion and strength to the individual. In 
regard to exercise, the patient is usually told to avoid any kind of 
exercise which causes fatigue. In the morning, when you are prac- 
ticing your long, deep breathing, throw your arms over your head, 
grasping the head of the bed, then stiffen the muscles of the arms for 
a few moments and suddenly relax them; so with the abdomen, the legs 
and feet. Take a deep breath and bend over on one side, then exhale, 
taking another deep breath and bend over to the other side. Imagine you 
are about to raise from the floor a considerable weight; stoop down to 
the floor as if actually lifting the weight, raise yourself to your full 
height, bring your hands together over your head, and raise yourself 
slowly to the tips of your toes. It is not intended to tire the patient 
and if not carried to excess will not cause fatigue. These exercises 



58 THE HELPER 

should be practiced whenever the patient feels the need of a slight stim- 
ulus to the circulation. Now, if the patient follows out the instructions 
in regard to breathing, drinking and exercise, improvement will usually 
follow. He will soon be able to partake freely of what Dr. Parkyn calls 
"the life essentials," namely, air, food, and drink, without which no 
sick person can over get well. The patient is also asked to fix his mind 
as often as possible on a picture of health, and to see himself as he 
would like to be, namely, healthy and strong. The instructions are an 
almost infallible cure for constipation, the cause of so many diseases, 
and very often when the cause of a disease is removed a cure follows. 

The patient receives one or two treatments a day, and pays from 
$1 to $25 per week, according to a previous agreement. A certain hour 
of the day is appointed when the patient is supposed to receive mental 
strength from the healer thousands of miles away. He is asked to sit 
in a comfortable chair or go to bed with the eyes closed, breathing 
slowly and deeply, waiting for the effects which are to follow. The writer 
knows of persons, old and young, with firm belief in the ability of the 
healer, who have been helped and cured by these treatments. The 
absent treatments last a half hour, sometimes more. Now, any person 
of common sense knows that the instructions about breathing, drinking 
and exercise, will help anyone, and these, with faith in the healer, often 
cure desperate diseases. Physicians say the cure is made through 
suggestion; the patient's mind acts on the body independent of the 
healer. At the hour when the healer is supposed to be directing his 
thought to the sick person, he or she has been known to be fishing, 
reading, sleeping, etc., doing almost anything but thinking of his con- 
fident patron. Some absent healers have accumulated hundreds of thou- 
sands of dollars by these ways alone. One extensive advertiser is said 
to have taken three trips around the world while his patients were 
supposed to be receiving healing thoughts from him in a well-known 
American city. His secretaries sent the letter of instruction, took the 
money, paid the bills, etc., while the healer enjoyed life in other coun- 
tries, receiving his share of the proceeds at certain intervals. Absent 
treatment, as can easily be seen, is a good thing; but, like other good 
things, it can be abused. 

A CURE FOR POVERTY.— A poor purse is generally the result of 
poor thoughts. If you would be successful have faith in your ability. 
Nothing is so essential to a leader in any kind of society or business as 
self-confidence. Of course, nothing can be accomplished without effort, 
but without confidence in one's ability to succeed there will be no 
effort. If one has faith in his own works he makes for himself a posi- 
tion at the head of the procession, and retains it by right of possession 

A laborer who feels that he is fit for something better than to merely 
labor like an ox will not remain a laborer long. His deside for better 



THE HELPER 59 

conditions will soon grow, and his belief that these conditions are 
attainable will grow into faith, and faith backed by a powerful will 
can bring you to a realization of your desires. The reader has doubtless 
known persons who, having met with reverses, took up some other occu- 
pation for a time; but they did not follow that way of earning money 
for a long time, as so many do. They demanded something better, and 
they eventually got it. If you demand persistently any quality in which 
you may be lacking, you will attract an increase of such quality. The 
person who mentally claims the most gets the most. A belief in pov- 
erty often burdens and oppresses us until it makes us mentally poor. 
The reason why a conceited man usually succeeds is because he has 
more confidence in himself. Many readers will recall instances where 
through fear, they were afraid to try certain ways of making a living 
but at last they summoned up enough courage for the task, and were 
surprised at the ease with which it was done. The thing you believe you 
can do, you can do. You have heard others boasting of how easy they 
did certain things, you thought you could not do the same, but when 
you tried, you did as well, if not better. Fear is said to be the most 
powerful enemy cf the human race. What sane person would worry 
if he did not first fear? Fear is the principal source of disease, misery 
and unhappiness. Have faith in yourself. The more you believe you 
can do, the more you will do. Cultivate love, and you will be more 
energetic. Love men, women, children and animals, and "the green 
things growing," and you will labor with more pleasure and with 
more results. You must remember that you are "one with infinite life." 
If you maintain a thought, desiring any particular condition or thing, 
you will soon attract to you whatever you desire. An ugly mood of 
mind makes us sick and loses us both friends and money, while a 
cheerful, loving disposition attracts help from many quarters. 

When you send your money to any of those who profess to be able 
to cure poverty you receive a communication telling you to have no 
fear of the future and to have more confidence in your ability. This, 
with your faith in the power of the person giving financial treatments, 
makes you more confident, and, as a rule, more successful. The con- 
fidence iniparted to you is often worth more than the fees paid; but it 
is an easy fee to the "professor," who seldom does anything bul send 
a few cheering letters. 

"HOW MY HELL UPON EARTH BECAME HEAVEN."— This is the 
title of a book which at one time had a very large sale. It deals with a 
married couple who were always quarreling during the first few years 
of their married life, when through the influence of :i lecture on mar- 
riage, the husband suddenly became very loving toward his wife. The 
wife was in a chronic state of illness from her husband's former mis- 
conduct, and the change soon made the wife a well woman. The resull 



60 THE HELPER 

was thai both were healthy and happy. The contrast between the 
misery of the first few years of fault-finding and looking for pleasure out- 
side the home and the happiness and content that follows a life of 
love, is vividly depicted. There is a valuable hint here for discontented 
married men and women. 

•"So many gods, so many creeds, 

So many paths That wind and wind. 

When all that the sad world needs 

Is just the art of being kind." 
"l>o your work as well as you can and be kind."' says Elbert Hubbard. 
"Just be kind" will attract to yourself the best that is in others, and 
your meed will be the association and companionship of those nobler 
minds who live above the heavy, murky bogs of hatred, jealousy and envy. 
Don't try to get even. "Like attracts like" in an inexorable law. Let 
the law even things up. It can do it far more effectively than you can. 
Just watch and see. While you watch you will rest. Resting is better 
than fusing. It's a great deal healthier. 

AX ANTIDOTE FOR WORRY.— Correct breathing is the first part 
to cultivate in the pursuit of beauty, just as it is the first step toward 
improvement in health. As a woman breathes, so she is: for the poise 
of the chest is the keynote to the whole figure. When the chest is in 
proper position the fine points of artistic wearing apparel and all the little 
frills of fashion, are seen to the best advantage. To breathe 
correctly, keep the chest up, out, forward, as if pulled up 
by a button. Keep the chin, the lips, the chest on a line. Hold the 
shoulders on a line with the hips. The observance of these directions 
will insure to rainy-day costumes a real dignity and picturesque effect. 
Breathe upward and outward, as If about to fly. drawing in the air with 
slow, deep breaths and letting it out gently. This conscious deep breath- 
ing, repeated ten or twenty times at intervals during the day. tends to 
expand the chest permanently, to give it classic poise and style. Re- 
pented four times, it is said to be a cure for worry. 

(rOOD ADVICE.— While it is true that the average person eats too 
much; true that "one-fourth of what we eat keeps lis while the other 
three-fourths we keep— at the risk of our lives;" yet it is also true that 
in addition to improper mastication and overeating, fear plays havoc with 
many stomachs. Have no fear of anything you eat. If you fear it do 
not eat it: if you eat it do not fear it. Those who are always fearing 
are always ailing. If you are perfectly well Nature will choose from 
the bill of fare such things as will best serve the needs of the body and 
brain; if not well, do not eat anything that disagrees with you. but get 
yourself in such a condition that nothing disagrees with you: that is, 
nothing wholesome. 

Drinking at meals induces people to eat more than they otherwise 



THE HELPER CI 

would, as any one can verify by experiment, and it is excess in earing 
that devastates the land with sickness, suffering and death. 

A lemon or two taken at "tea time," as an entire substitute for the 
ordinary "supper" of summer, would give many a man a comfortable 
night's sleep and an awakening of rest and invigoration, with an appetite 
for breakfast, to which they are strangers who will have their cup of 
tea or supper of "relish" or "cake" and berries or peaches and cream. 

As far as possible avoid fear. Fear is also a fruitful source of in- 
fection, for it weakens the pulse and the whole frame. Travelers in the 
East have told that when a dog is suddenly bitten by a rattlesnake, the 
wound is not considered half so deadly as when the dog has seen the 
reptile, and stood trembling before it; fear in this case aids and quickens 
the poison. Charms and amulets, met with occasionally among the poor 
of our country, and frequently in foreign ones, may thus actually be 
useful by inspiring confidence, although it is the confidence of superstition. 

It is stated that the ancient Italians who lived near the poisonous 
Pontine marshes of Italy, suffered less from fever than the moderns, as 
they wore warm and fleecy clothing, and that now the evil has been 
greatly arrested by flannel again coming into use. Laborers in such places 
fall victims in great numbers unless this precaution be adopted. 

RUNNING AFTER "STRANGE GODS."-The trouble is. people are, 
for some reason it is hard to explain, inclined to run after "strange gods," 
and if they find a "doctor" who says he can cure them in a week, when 
their family physician would require six months, the sick man, ten to 
one, will throw overboard the man of skill and education and begin 
taking the nostrums of the stranger, and at the same time, in all prob- 
ability, commence the rapid descent to the grave. 

What do you think, for instance, of a mixture for coughs and colds, 
alleged in the flaming advertisements of the proprietor, or "doctor," to 
be composed of every healing herb known, and actually made up only 
of the dirtiest kind of molasses and a small quantity of tar. with a slight 
infusion of flavoring to take off the edge? And then, for what costs 
perhaps two cents, and is dear at that price, the victim must plank 
down a dollar, and All his stomach with a fraud of a preparation that 
wouldn't cure a cold in a sick dog. And yet this thing is practiced every 
day. The drug stores are filled with these so-called medicines. 

The common liver pill is composed of aloes, colcynth and podophyllum 
While they are advertised as blood purifiers, they are in fad, powerful 
drastic purgatives, and leave the bowels in such a deplorable condition 
that eight out of twelve cases where taken results in piles. This tact 
has been substantiated by competent examination and investigation. 

Then there are catarrh solutions put up in pint bottles, containing six 
teen ounces of water, in winch is put a pinch of borax and common salt. 



62 THE HELPER 

These are sold for $1. Everybody knows that common salt is a good 
remedy; bul why pay such an exorbitant price for it when it may be had 
for nothing at home? With this solution goes a douche for throwing 
the water into the head. For this you will be charged $3, a net profit 
of $2.50 to the quack. You may save this money by simply inhaling salt 
water from the palm of the hand. 

"Soothers" are composed of poppy syrups and morphia; nothing less. 
The latter is a powerful anodyne. It gives unnatural rest to children; 
constipates the bowels, and is particularly deleterous when the infant is 
teething. Do you know, you mother who do this, that you are inviting 
cerebral weakness? That you are paving the road to mental inactivity? 
That your child, simply by this, may never have the right use of its 
faculties? It is a fact, nevertheless. 

Still another variety of advertisements is sent out in every daily and in 
many weekly papers, that works endless evil. We refer to the demor- 
alizing patent medicines and "confidential" private-diseases notices. These 
are always swindles of the worst class, and should be shunned as though 
they were vipers. If one is unfortunate, the family physician is able 
and willing to relieve the trouble, and can do so with safety. Adver- 
tising doctors are generally quacks, and prey upon the misfortunes of 
mankind. If you are unfortunate, young man, go to your home physician, 
tell him all and trust to him to bring you up once more. 

It is said that the great cause of typhoid fever and appen- 
dieitus, or inflammation of the bowels, besides many other ills, is 
constipation. The secret of prevention is in keeping- your bowels open. 
Six hundred millions of anti-constipation pills are sold yearly in America, 
though every intelligent physician knows that no drug ever heard of can 
do anything for the habit except to make it worse. It is easy enough to 
keep your bowels always open and regular, if you are not negligent or 
lazy. Don't be lazy, but at a certain hour and minute each day, move 
your bowels. They may not move at first, but keep trying each day 
at the same time, preferably after breakfast, and in a short time you 
will be gratified by finding that you are as regular as the rest of nature. 

This reminds one of the inscription a traveler saw on a grave: 
"Here lies the remains of Jimmie dear 
Who went to heaven with diarrhear," 

He added: 

" 'Twere 1 tetter thus for his salvation 
Than to have gone with constipation." 

"Is there any profit in selling postage stamps?" inquired the man m 
search of information. "Not directly," replied the druggist, "but it gets 
people into the habit of going to the drug store, and after that it doesn't 
take long to make chronic invalids of them.'"— New England Druggist. 

Somebody made a fortune selling "Methnsaleh pills" to the Southern 
negroes, warranted to prolong their lives. 



THE HELPER 63 

"Children who drink tea and coffee," says Dr. Ferguson, of England, 
"as a rule, only grow four pounds per annum between the ages of thirteen 
and sixteen, while those who drink milk night and morning grow fifteen 
pounds each year. When diseases are prevalent in the neighborhood 
children who use these drinks have less power to resist sickness than 
others." 

HOW TO CARE FOR CHILDREN'S FEET— It has been well said 
that life-long discomfort, disease, and sudden death often come to chil- 
dren through inattention or carelessness of the parents. A child should 
never be allowed to go to sleep with cold feet. The thing to be last 
attended to is, to see that the feet are dry and warm. Neglect of 
this has often resulted in a dangerous attack of croup, diphtheria, or a 
fatal sore throat. 

PRECAUTIONS IN VISITING INFECTED ROOMS.— When the great 

philanthropist Howard was asked what precautions he used to preserve 

himself from infection in the prisons, hospitals and dungeons which he 

visited,* he responded with his pen as follows: 

"I here answer once for all, next to the free goodness and mercy of 

the Author of my being, temperance and cleanliness are my preservatives. 
"Trusting in Divine Providence, and believing myself in the way of 

duty, I visit the most noxious cells, and while thus employed I fear no 

evil. 

"I never enter a hospital or prison before breakfast; and 

"In an offensive room I seldom draw my breath deeply." 

No better precautions than these need be given. The answer of Howard 

should be indelibly impressed on every memory. 

ONE WOMAN'S SAYING WAYS— A housekeeper writes to the Fire- 
side Yisitor as follows: 

A great saving is made by the proper care and use of cooked and un- 
cooked food. The first and great consideration is perfect cleanliness. The 
ice chest and cellar should be thoroughly cleaned at least once a week. 
Of course circumstances and environments must be considered, but this 
rule is a general one. The jars in which bread is kept should be washed, 
scalded and dried thoroughly at least twice a week. 

Whatever you keep your bread in— whether can, box or jar — be very 
sure that nothing is put away until thoroughly cool. Otherwise the steam 
will cause mold and mustiness. Crusts and pieces of stale bread should 
not be allowed to accumulate. They are nice lor many purposes. Slices 
that are not too broken may be used for toast, while bits too small for 
this may be made into puddings, griddle cakes, dressings for fish, meat 
or poultry, etc. Such as are not thus taken care of should lie dried in a 
slow oven, rolled into fine crumbs on a board, and put away for breading 
croquettes, cutletts. or similar foods. Stale cake makes nice puddings. 



04 THE HELPER 

Remember, too, that any cooked food should be perfectly cool before 
it is placed in the cellar or ice chest. If it is not, it will absorb an un- 
pleasant odor from the close atmosphere of either place. Meat should not 
be placed directly on the ice, as the water draws out the juices. Always 
place it in a pan, this being set on the ice, if desired. The habit which 
many people have of putting steak, chops, etc., in the wrapping paper, 
on ice, is a very bad one. 

The quicker food of all kinds cools the longer it will keep. With 
soups and bread this is particularly the case. Always turn bread on 
the side of each loaf, and set them where the fresh, cool air will circulate 
without drawing directly upon the loaves. 

Milk, cream and butter all quickly absorb strong odors, hence care 
imisi be taken to keep them in a cool, sweet place. 

If from any cause butter becomes rancid, to a pint of it add a table- 
spoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of soda, pour on a pint of cold water, 
and place over the lire until it reaches the boiling point. Set away to 
cool, and when hard take it from the water in a cake, wipe dry and put 
away for cooking purposes. It will be perfectly sweet. 

When eggs are scarce and high use corn starch as a substitute in 
cakes, puddings and for all thickening purposes. A tablespoonful of corn 
starch being equal to one egg. 

It is a useful economy of time and labor to make night-gowns of tennis 
flannel. It is more easily washed, does not require ironing, and will out- 
wear muslin. Sheets for winter, of the same material, are soft, warm 
and easily washed. They are as pleasant as blankets to sleep in and much 
more easily kept clean. Plain red calico for kitchen windows and cup- 
boards saves washing and is cheery to look at. 

Men's underwear can be nicely made over into underclothes for the 
children with but little work, and prove warm and serviceable. 

Fish may be scaled much easier by first dipping them into boiling 
water for a minute. 

Meat should not be washed before cooking, as the flavor is injured, 
and the nutriment decreased. 

Add a speck of soda when cooking beans or any vegetable which seems 
tough, and the cooking process is quickened. 

Rub a bit of soda over meat or poultry that seems overripe and wash 
in cold water. 

Rats and mice were banished from an old house which they had 
infested for years by a mixture of live cents worth of red pepper and five 
cents worth of putty. The mixture was put in their holesand other places 
which they were supposed to frequent. 



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